Wish You Were Here
by 1999luke2
Summary: Dipper and Mabel both make the same wish one night. Unbeknownst to them, for it to come true, two people must pay the ultimate price. Written by fanfics4ever on DeviantART.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This isn't my story, it was written by fanfics4ever on DeviantART. Check out this link for fanfics4ever's profile. I have been given permission to upload it, here's the link.**

"What?" Dipper said in disbelief.  
"You're lying!" Mabel accused, hoping what she had proclaimed was the truth.  
"I'm sorry kids, I wish I was, but it's the truth; your parents are dead." their Great Uncle Stan told them.  
He removed his Fez and held it to his chest.  
"I'm sorry, but it looks like you'll be staying here with me" he told them "I'm the only member of the family left."  
He got down on a knee to look at them both.  
"But don't worry; I'll take care of you both. I'll be a better guardian than I've been these past few months. I'll make sure that you both grow up and live happy lives. I swear on my own life, cross my heart." He told them, looking into each of their eyes, and he crossed a finger over his chest.  
He held out his arms to hug them, but they wouldn't have it.  
"No, I'm not gonna believe this, it just can't be true!" Mabel said, tears forming in her eyes, and she stormed up the stairs to their room.  
Dipper stayed behind, and Stan held out his hands to at least hug him, but he pushed his arms away.  
"I-I can't take this, I'm sorry Grunkle Stan, but I…" he started, but was unable to finish his sentence.  
He walked over to the 'secret' ladder that led to the roof, and stormed up. He slammed the hatch shut once he made it up there.  
Stan looked up the ladder, and then up the stairs and sighed.  
"I should've expected them to react like this…" he said to himself and left the room.

Dipper was on the part of the roof where Wendy's 'hide-out' was, which had the lawn chair, ice chest, bucket full of pine-cones, and an umbrella for shade. He began throwing the pine-cones from the bucket at the totem pole in anger, trying to hit the target. Mabel was in her and Dipper's room, her sweater pulled over her head and covering her knees as she held them in a fetal position, rocking back and forth.  
They were both crying.  
Mabel was letting her tears fall, nearly soaking her sweater, but she didn't care. Dipper had tried to man up, but he just couldn't, and he let his tears fall.  
As they cried, a thought occurred to both of their minds.  
'I wish I never made that stupid wish!'  
And they both continued crying, Dipper continuing to throw pine-cones and Mabel continuing to rock while in the fetal position.

One week ago…

While Dipper and Mabel had gone through crazy adventures in Gravity Falls, discovering many mysteries and risking their lives, they could both admit, that, while some things they went through were insane, these past two months had been some of the greatest they'd ever experienced. They secretly wished that the times they were having would never end. They kept this so hidden to themselves that they hadn't even said it to each other, so they didn't know they both had the same secret wish.  
"Hey, Dipper!" Mabel said.  
She was looking out the window, staring at the clear night sky.  
"Yeah?" Dipper asked, looking up from the book he had found, with the number 3 inside a handprint on the cover.  
"Do you still believe in wishes?" she asked.  
Dipper set his book down, closing it, and looked up, cocking his eye-brow.  
"Huh?" he asked.  
"You know…" Mabel said, nudging him "Like, with the stars and stuff!"  
She pointed out the window and then smiled, her braces glittering a little from the shine of the gas lamps on their bed-side desks.  
Dipper shrugged.  
"I don't know Mabel…" he said to her.  
He picked up his book and flipped through the pages.  
"I got out of it before we came here, but from what I've been seeing, anything's possible" he admitted.  
Mabel smiled gleefully.  
"Then make a wish with me!" she said, grabbing his arm.  
"What?" he asked.  
Mabel shook him by his arm.  
"C'mon, do it!" she said.  
She began poking him on his face.  
"Mabel! Ah, OW, stop!" he said, trying to use his free hand to push her hand away.  
"Then make a wish, Silly-head" Mabel told him, still grinning and continuing to poke him.  
Dipper finally caught her hand and looked at her.  
"Fine!" Dipper said.  
"If I make a wish with you, will you leave me alone?" he asked.  
Mabel nodded, and then got on her knees and looked out the window, folding her hands together. Dipper sighed, and then did the same at her side.  
Mabel stared out the window and looked at the first star she saw. Dipper did the same, not knowing that he and his sister were looking at the same star. They focused on it, and underneath their breath they both said the same rhyme.  
"Star light… star bright… first star I see tonight… I wish I may… I wish I might… have this wish I wish tonight…" they both recited silently.  
They both then bowed their heads and closed their eyes, thinking of what to wish for. They both thought the same thing, the mutual thought that they were hiding from each other, still not knowing that either of them were doing so by wishing for their 'secret wish'.  
"I wish we both could stay here in Gravity Falls" they said silently, mouthing the words.  
A few seconds later, they both looked up, unfolding their hands.  
Mabel smiled.  
"So…" she said.  
She looked up at her brother.  
"What'd you wish for?" Mabel asked.  
Dipper just smiled sympathetically.  
"Hey Mabel, you know the age old rule; you can't tell someone your wish or it won't come true." he said, smirking a bit.  
Mabel rolled her eyes, but agreed.  
"Well, alright…" she said, and got onto her bed, slipping under the covers.  
Mabel patted her bed.  
"C'mon Waddles!" she motioned to her pet pig.  
The pig got up from the spot on the floor he'd been slumbering on, snorted, and got onto her bed and waddled to the foot of it, and fell right back asleep. Mabel turned over and closed her eyes.  
"Night Dip" she said to her brother.  
Dipper yawned and got into his bed.  
"Good night, Mabel" he said.  
He reached over to the lamp on his bed-side desk and turned the knob, extinguishing the flame, making the room go dark. He turned over himself, and closed his eyes as well.  
Pretty soon, both of the twins fell asleep.

A few days later, business was going pretty slow at the shack, so their Great Uncle Stan had let the twins go outside into the fresh air, letting them go on another one of their 'adventures' that they always told him about. While he didn't really believe some of the crazy things they said they would get into, he still liked that the kids were at least having fun on their summer trip. They were pretty bummed on being here at first, but at least they had changed their attitudes.  
And while Stan would never say it, he loved them, and hoped they'd continue having fun on the rest of their stay. Unbeknownst to him though, he was going to learn that those two being here would be more than just a stay for the summer.  
He looked around and saw Wendy sitting behind the counter, reading another one of her magazines, and Soos sweeping the floor like he had been told. Stan leaned against the doorway that divided the gift shop from the living room, letting his thoughts wander until he heard the phone ring.  
He had disconnected the answering machine a few days ago, because he was tired of Lazy Susan's long and rambling messages. But, knowing that it could be anything, he went into the other room and answered it.  
"Owner of the Mystery Shack and Gravity Fall's own Mr. Mystery here. Who's this?" Stan said, hoping it would be a business call.  
"Is this Stan Pines?" said a very serious voice, almost like an official business-man.  
He groaned.  
"Yeah, and whoever's after me, I can tell you that ya ain't getting a dime outta me!" Stan instantly threatened.  
"This isn't a bookie or a hit-man, or anything Mr. Pines, if those are the types of calls you get… This is your nephew's lawyer" he was told.  
At this Stan got really confused.  
"What? Why're you calling me?" he asked "Is something wrong?"  
He could hear the voice on the other line sigh.  
"Sadly, Mr. Pines, there is; your nephew and his wife were both involved in a collision with an eighteen wheeler."  
Stan felt his blood begin to rush through his veins in fear. He would always say fears were for chumps, especially after overcoming his fear of heights. But a situation like this would be an exception… for him at least.  
"Really?" Stan asked "B-but are they okay?"  
"No, I'm sorry to say, but they're both dead," he was told "they died before their ambulances could make it to the hospital."  
Stan could feel his heart sink.  
"I'll be in Gravity Falls in a few days to discuss the will with you." the lawyer told him "What I've called you for is a very important issue; as the next-of-kin, as both your nephew and his wife are only children, and you being the only family member within closest proximity, I must ask if you are willing to take care of your grand-niece and grand-nephew."  
Stan looked out the window, seeing them both outside with Soos, who had finished sweeping and was now playing 'Monkey in the Middle' with them. How they both could manage to throw that ball over him, and that big lug unable to catch it, was a mystery to him.  
"Mr. Pines?" the lawyer said, thinking he had dropped the phone or had hung up.  
Stan snapped back to reality and shook his head. He cleared his throat.  
"Alright, I'll take care of them." he told him, not even needing to think it over.  
He may not have been the best guy to do so, but when it came to family, especially in an issue like this, he would do anything.  
"I mean, I'm the only guy they can go to, right?" Stan asked.  
"It seems so, Mr. Pines" the lawyer said "both your older brother and your sister-in-law are dead, and your nephew's wife's parents are dead as well."  
"Again, I'll be in town within a few days and will tell you of their will, as well as this, I will bring a few documents of the children's for you to sign."  
Stan sighed again, a few tears slipping down. He sat down in his chair.  
"Listen, uh, thanks for telling me this and all, but…. it's just… it's gonna be hard to tell the kids about this, ya know?" Stan told the lawyer on the other end, as if he was talking to a friend.  
"I understand Mr. Pines, but it's best that you tell them sooner than later, good-bye."  
"Bye" Stan said, and he and the Lawyer both hung up at the same moment.  
Stan stood back up and looked out the window. The kids were still having fun with Soos, and Wendy had now joined in. He could see the smiles on all their faces, especially Dipper and Mabel's, and he could feel tears welling in his eyes again. He brushed them away.  
"I just can't tell 'em now, just look at 'em" he said to himself.  
He let some tears finally fall.  
"I'll tell them tomorrow…" he said aloud, keeping it as a promise to himself, one that he would not break at all.

The next day, as the kids came down to breakfast, they saw that Stan was up, which was odd, as they usually woke up before him. What was even odder was that he had made breakfast for them. This confused them even more, but they approached it cautiously.  
"Uh, Grunkle Stan, what's going on?" Dipper asked.  
Their great uncle looked over at him, and smiled.  
"Ah, nothing much Dippy" he said.  
"Just thought I'd make ya kids both some breakfast. I bet you two've gotten sick of cereal, so I thought you'd enjoy some French toast."  
Mabel looked at the trash can next to him; she saw a burnt black mess.  
"Uh, what's that?" she asked.  
Stan looked down.  
"Oh, uh… that was the first try. I haven't made these things in a while, but I've gotten the hang of it now" Stan admitted.  
He finally finished them up and put a huge stack on a plate. He set it on the table and handed the kids each a plate. These ones weren't paper, but were actual glass.  
"Oh, and I got some syrup the other day, the kind you kids like, not that watered-down crud" Stan told them, setting down a huge jug of syrup on the table.  
The kids each cautiously got an equal share of French toast, and carefully poured syrup over them. But as they took their first cautious bite, they knew they didn't have anything to worry about, they were delicious. A bit too thin, but delicious all the same.  
"Oh, and after you kids get dressed, don't worry, I'm not making you two work today. Just have fun, watch some TV, and relax." their Grunkle Stan told them "Heck, you could lounge around in the PJs you're both wearing if you want!"  
He left the room, leaving them both in a state of pure confusion.  
"Mabel, do you think something's wrong?" Dipper asked his twin sister.  
Mabel shrugged. While she was a bit silly, she knew when an important issue was happening, and would be serious for the time being.  
"I really don't know Dipper, but maybe we shouldn't look this sick horse in a mouth." Mabel told him, continuing to eat her French toast.  
Dipper face-palmed himself.  
"It's 'don't look a GIFT horse in THE mouth' Mabel…" he told her.  
Mabel shrugged again, what with her mouth being full. Dipper sighed, and continued eating as well.

Later on, even though they were both told they could stay in their pajamas, they got dressed and ready for the day (showered, deodorant put on, teeth brushed, etc.) they tried to confront Stan about what was going on. But he continually kept avoiding them. Not in his usual way either; he didn't seem up to something to make his usual quick buck, but as if he was waiting for something. They caught him pacing in the living room and mumbling to himself, occasionally glancing at the phone.  
"Maybe he owes someone money" Mabel said as a suggestion to Dipper.  
"Nah" Soos said to them, as he passed by "he usually locks up the place if something like that's going on."  
Stan was constantly checking his watch or the wall clock.  
"Maybe someone with money is coming by" Dipper said to Mabel.  
"Eh, your uncle would be really angry and jittery if something like that was going on" Wendy told them, as they were looking from behind the counter in the gift shop at Stan.

"Especially if they were late" Wendy added, and continued to read her magazine.  
Later on in the day, Dipper and Mabel saw Stan return home from the store with more than just cereal, milk, bread, condiments, hot dogs, and chips, but with actual ingredients to make actual meals.  
"Maybe he's got a LADY FRIEND coming over!" Mabel said with a giddy smile.  
Dipper shook his head.  
"Uh-uh, the only woman in Gravity Falls that's his age is Lazy Susan, and he's really been avoiding her lately." he told her.  
Finally, when their curiosity got the best of them, they decided the only way to find out was to corner him, and then confront him. They got Wendy and Soos to help them with their plan; Soos would lock the front door when he came in and then he and Wendy would block the path to escape the gift shop part of the Mystery Shack that led to the living room, while Dipper and Mabel would come down the stairs, blocking the last escape. But it seemed this plan didn't need to be enacted. When their great uncle finally came home, he called them downstairs, and said that he needed to talk to them. He took them into the living room and told Wendy to lock the front door herself, as the shack needed to stay closed at the time.  
He had the twins sit down and turned away from them, still seeming to be hiding something from them.  
But then he sighed.  
"Okay, kids… I know you're probably getting suspicious as to how I've been acting today." he stated.  
Stan turned his head to the side, glancing behind himself and he saw them both nod.  
"The reason for this, kids," Stan said "Is because I've recently received some bad news, news that involved the two of you, because it's about your parents."  
"They've been involved in an accident with an 18 wheeler and the impact has…"  
He turned away, seeming to struggle. He was trying not to cry. He hadn't cried in years (at least, not in front of people…) But it was hard to hold these tears back, no matter how much he wanted to let them out. After summoning all his will, though, he finally held them back. He turned around and saw that Dipper and Mabel were on the edge of their seats.  
"I'm sorry kids, but your parents are dead. The impact caused so many injuries to them, that they died before the ambulances that rescued them could make it to the hospital."  
Dipper and Mabel were totally frozen. Those four words hit them like a ton of bricks; 'your parents are dead'…

They didn't even hear their great uncle go on about how he was to become their legal guardian, how he would take better care of them than he had been doing, thus explaining why he had done such different things that day, like making them breakfast and buying ingredient for decent meals. He also went on about how their parent's lawyer would be here in a few days to go over their parent's will. They were so shocked that they couldn't move.  
Their great uncle finally looked back at them, as he had been pacing while explaining himself.  
"Kids?" Stan said curiously, seeing them still in the same position they had been in.  
Finally, they spoke.  
"What?" Dipper said.  
"You're lying!" Mabel accused, hopping of the chair and pointing at him…

-

This led to the events of both kids charging from the room and to the spots they ended up at. Stan was still down on one knee, the same position he had been in when he tried to hug the kids. He sighed and stood up. He turned around and saw both Wendy and Soos behind him, standing in the gift shop.  
They had seen everything.  
"I'm guessing you both heard everything here, huh?" he asked them, already knowing the answer.  
They both slowly nodded.  
He shook his head.  
"I knew it" he said "I'd fire you if I could afford it, but I won't."  
"Mr. Pines…" Soos got Stan's attention.  
Stan looked back up.  
"I… I'm sorry for your loss." Soos told him.  
At a pretend funeral for a life-size wax replica of Stan, Soos had burst into tears, but for a real death, Soos was able to keep a simple face of sadness, not even showing a sign of crying. Stan sighed again and patted him on the shoulder as he walked past him.  
"Thanks, ya big lug…" his said.  
He went over to the ladder that led to the roof as it was the closest, but just looking up, he knew he'd end up falling before he could reach the hatch. Wendy came up to his side.  
"I'll take care of this, boss" she said, putting her hands on the railing.  
Stan nodded.  
"Thanks, Wendy" he said to her, patting her on the shoulder as well.  
Wendy smiled warmly.  
"Hey, don't want you falling; who'll sign my paychecks?" she said, changing her warm, sympathetic smile into a smirk.  
Stan rolled his eyes, and for two reasons; one: he wasn't much for jokes at the moment (but people dealt with death in their own ways) and two: he didn't give his employees paychecks; he paid Wendy and Soos in cash.  
He turned to head for the stairs, but he saw that Soos was heading up in the direction of Dipper and Mabel's room.  
"I'll talk to hambone for you" Soos said to Stan "from how she reacted, she may not want to talk to you. That's only a guess, though."  
Stan shrugged and walked over to his chair. Not feeling like watching TV, he just sat and let his thoughts take over and began to wonder what could end up happening now that the kids knew.

Wendy headed up the ladder, opening the hatch and getting up onto the roof, closing the hatch behind her. She walked steadily across the roof and saw Dipper in her hiding spot. She saw him throwing pine-cones, trying to hit the target she had set up on the totem pole. She went up behind him and got his attention.  
"Hey, nice job giving away my hide-out to Stan back there" she joked.  
Dipper dropped a pine cone that was in his hand out of surprise, but then, when he looked back at her, Wendy could see the look on his face. She could see the tears that were still streaming down his eyes, and the fact that he didn't even try to hide them made her realize how this situation affected him.

Dipper looked away, and Wendy sat at his side. He didn't have to talk to express what was going though his mind, she already knew.  
Wendy put an arm over Dipper, and again, he dropped another pine cone and froze a bit in shock. Wendy laughed silently at this. She slid him a bit closer to her, and she could feel goose-bumps form on his skin. Dipper looked up at Wendy, and the smile on her face made him feel like everything disappeared around him.  
"Look, Dip" she said, breaking him out of his trance "I know that this is a big shock to you, and I know so much is going through your head that you just can't vent it out right."  
"H-how…" Dipper started, but Wendy put a finger to his lips.  
"Sshh…" she said calmly.  
She resumed what she had been saying.  
"But I know that, in time, this will come to pass."  
"I've been through an issue similar to this" Wendy said, beginning to answer the question he was going to ask "my mom died when I was younger, and this issue hit my family hard."  
Dipper's eyes went wide at this. Was Wendy actually opening up to him? She did talk to him and Mabel at times, telling him of things on her mind, but this was far past that. It was as if he was Wendy's new diary and she was about to pour her feeling onto him. He didn't take this situation for granted and let her continue.  
"But," Wendy went on "while all three of my brothers, and even my dad, the toughest guy in town, all cried I didn't even shed a tear. I thought it was just me being tough, but I knew that wasn't it."  
She took a calm breath and went on.  
"After her funeral, in a way, I became a substitute mother for my younger brothers."  
"The biggest reason was that, even though my dad does love and care for us, he couldn't do all my mom could."  
Wendy covered her mouth and laughed a little.  
"Of course, I couldn't either, but I could do more than him." she said "And, while I hated it at first, I taught my brothers how to look after themselves, and afterwards, it was then I realized that the whole reason I hadn't cried was because I never really knew anything about my mother at all, and I wished that I could've gotten to know her more. It was then, after three years, that I finally cried."  
A few tears slipped down her face. She wiped them away so Dipper couldn't see, but he did see, and she looked back down on Dipper.  
"I've talked to my dad and learned more about my mom, and while it doesn't make up for not getting to know her personally, at least it helped ease the pain."  
She put her hand on his shoulder, shaking it a bit.  
"Maybe, if it still hurts after everything falls into place-"  
"Which, I promise you, they will" she reassured him.  
"-you should talk to Stan and see if he could tell you anything about your parents. If anything, it could help a bit."  
"So, let those tears fall," she told him, brushing a tear off of his face "I won't judge you, things like this hurt, and the only way you can help yourself is to just let them out, not lock them up like I did."  
She put her arm back around him, and finished.  
Dipper was amazed. He had never seen this side of Wendy. The girl he had a crush on was a sarcastic teenager with a laid-back attitude, and that's all he really knew about her. But, seeing this nurturing, caring, almost motherly, side of her only made him like her even more. He wanted to tell her at that moment just how he felt about her, but, instead, he stayed silent and just relished this opportunity to spend time with her. While the tears still fell down Dipper's face, he couldn't help but at least faintly smile. He felt so content.  
This content moment though, quickly came to an end when he heard a loud stereo being played and a screeching of tires. He opened his eyes and saw Wendy's boyfriend, Robbie, at the wheel of a convertible car, pulling up a few yards away from where he and Wendy were in the parking area of the Mystery Shack.  
Dipper's smile disappeared, and his teeth gritted in anger.  
Without even bothering to turn off the car, or at least turn down the volume of the radio, Robbie looked up at them.  
"Yo, Wendy, get down from there and hop on in, girl" he called to her, honking the horn, as if he was barking an order to her.  
Wendy scoffed, seeming to be annoyed at this moment being intruded upon as much as Dipper had. She must have actually been content as well.  
"What the hell is he doing driving? He doesn't even have his license, or even his permit, yet!" Wendy said to herself, Dipper hearing this. Her nurturing side was still active, apparently.  
She looked down at Dipper.  
"I'll be right back, Dip, I just got to go down there and talk to him for a bit."  
She took her usual way down, from one tree to another, until she slid down. Her nurturing side obviously didn't effect her own actions…

Robbie saw Wendy on the passenger's side of the car, and without even a greeting, he opened the door to the passenger's seat.  
"Get in" he said sharply.  
Wendy closed the door.  
"Robbie, I can't leave yet, there's a big issue going on, and I'm really needed here" she said to him.  
Robbie pulled down the sunglasses he had been wearing, and looked up, seeing Dipper on Wendy's hide-out spot on the roof. He looked back at Wendy and put his sunglasses back on.  
"Oh, what? His stupid con-artist uncle took his teddy bear away?" he asked her.  
Robbie put his hands back on the wheel.  
"Just tell that little kid to suck it up and be a man." he told her nonchalantly.  
Wendy glared. She reached in and turned the radio off.  
"His parents died. He needs someone right now." she told him "And the only person who can talk to him now is me."  
Robbie looked at her and turned the car off, taking the key out of the ignition. He got out and sat on the hood.  
"So what if the kid lost his 'rents?" he asked "Everyone dies, he needs to face reality already."  
Wendy scoffed in anger, but Robbie didn't stop where he was.  
"If you ask me, life's better off without 'em!" he continued.  
He took a carton of cigarettes out of one pocket and a lighter out of the other.

"Seriously; all they do is tell you what to do and order you around. That kid needs to relish this opportunity like I did when I decided to not care about what my 'rents said anymore."  
Robbie looked up at Wendy with a smirk as he took a cigarette out of the carton and stuck it in his mouth, lighting it.  
"Seriously, if I really did care, do you think I'd be in my step-mom's car without her knowing, or have my step-dad's smokes with me?"  
Robbie had adoptive parents, as he was an orphan. That's why he referred to them as 'step-' parents.  
Wendy's glare stiffened and her teeth gritted after she heard him say this. Her fists clenched and she shook in anger. In a fit of rage, she struck him, back-handed, right across the face, causing the cigarette to fall out of his mouth and for him to fall off the hood of the car and onto the ground.  
"How DARE you?!" she asked.  
Robbie looked up.  
"Huh?" he asked, as if he was clueless that his statement an insult to end all insults.  
"A twelve-year-old just learned that he lost BOTH of his parents and you don't even acknowledge the fact on how much this can affect him?" she asked.  
"His WHOLE WORLD is crumbling down around him as we speak, and let's not even imagine what's happening to Mabel!" Wendy spat out angrily.  
Robbie shrugged, as he got up and dusted himself off.  
"Don't ask me." he replied "I don't care."  
"Well, you disgust me" Wendy said, point-blank.  
"Obviously you've never listened to me; I'VE been through the exact same thing, and I was younger than him!"  
Robbie cocked an eye-brow in a mix of confusion and shock.  
"Wha-?" he started, but Wendy interrupted him.  
"We're through." she told him, and with that she turned on her heal and walked away towards the entrance of the Mystery Shack. Robbie got up walked after her.  
"Oh, HELL NO!" he nearly shouted as he followed her.  
"Now listen here, Wendy!" he said angrily "I'm the man here, and I call the shots; so it ain't over until I say it's over! So, if you know what's best for you, you'll get in the car, and-"  
Wendy, now completely fed up with him, turned right back around and kneed Robbie right between the legs!

Back up on the roof, Dipper winced a bit as he had a mix of sympathy for Robbie, but added to the mix was also satisfaction for this finally happening. He couldn't help but laugh, the tears in his eyes now coming from him laughing so hard.

"Don't ever come around me again." Wendy said as she walked away from Robbie, who was on the ground, his hands between his legs as he whimpered in pain.  
"You've seen my dad, and you'll be sorry if you even THINK about trying to stalk me." she added.

Wendy went back into the Mystery Shack and went up the ladder and back onto the roof. By the time she made it up there, Dipper's laughter had died down, and Robbie had already hobbled his way to the car, bow-legged, and was driving off.  
"That guy was always a jerk anyways" Wendy stated simply as she came and sat back down next to Dipper.  
Dipper didn't even need to apologize on the break-up happening, as Wendy put her arm back around him. But one thing she had said while down there made a question arise in his mind.  
"I actually wonder how Mabel is doing right now…" he wondered aloud for Wendy to hear.  
Wendy looked down at him at this.  
"Oh, I saw Soos go up to your guys' room to talk to her, he's probably comforting her, too." she informed him.  
She put a finger on Dipper's chin and turned his head so he could look at her.  
"Look, when this is over, go talk to her and comfort her, you guys need each other right now, more than ever" she told him, a bit of her nurturing side showing again.  
Dipper nodded.  
"Just… just a few more minutes though, okay?" he asked, putting his hand on her arm, blushing a bit.  
Wendy smiled warmly and nodded, rolling her eyes a bit.  
"Okay, a few more minutes…."  
They both remained silent.

Wendy had in fact been right on what had happened with Mabel and Soos.  
But all that had happened, and was still happening while the crazy things that happened outside took place, was that Soos had simply gone to their room, and found Mabel crying inside her sweater. He pulled the collar of her sweater down and when she saw him, she stood up and he picked her up as she put her arms around him, crying into his shoulder. Soos couldn't think to say anything, and just patted Mabel's back, letting her cry.  
"Sshh, Sshh, it's, uh, it's gonna be okay, hambone" Soos told her "I, um, don't know how, but it will be…"  
Mabel didn't care what he was saying, but just continued crying.

After a few minutes, Dipper stood up and went to go talk to Mabel.  
"Thanks for this, Wendy, but I'm going to see how Mabel's doing" he told her.  
Wendy nodded, but, before he left, she stopped him and kissed him on the cheek. Dipper nearly collapsed at this, but shook off his nerves and went back to the hatch that led to the ladder and down into the lobby. He went up the stairs to his and Mabel's room and found her crying into Soos' shoulder.  
At seeing him, Soos set Mabel down and she turned around, seeing Dipper. She brushed her tears away with her sweater sleeve and looked at her brother.  
Soos stood back up and left.  
"I'll, uh, I'll let the two of you talk in private, alright…" he said.  
They nodded and Mabel thanked him as he left.  
And right at that moment, both twins, even while their sadness had almost been lifted, crashed down upon them again and they both embraced in a tight hug, crying once more.  
"D…Dipper…" Mabel said, trying to figure out what to say.  
Dipper just rubbed her back, talking soothingly.  
"It's all gonna be okay, Mabel" Dipper told her, almost feeling as if he was lying.  
"How?" Mabel asked in misery.  
Dipper couldn't answer her and just hugged Mabel harder, but his eyes cleared a bit from the tears in his eyes, and he saw something; his book that he had found.  
He let go of Mabel and walked over to it.  
"With this…" he said, finally answering her.  
Mabel cocked her eye-brow.  
"What?" She said, looking over his shoulder as he opened it.  
Dipper flipped through some pages.  
"Mabel, we've discovered some crazy things in this town. This book documents most of it, and maybe, just maybe, there could be something in here that could help us get mom and dad back!" he said.  
Mabel shook her head slightly.  
"But, uh, Dipper, not everything that we've done is in this book of yours" she reminded him.  
Dipper nodded.  
"True, but, you never know, sis, you never know…." he told her, and continued flipping through.  
"I mean, look what we've been through; surviving attacks by gnomes, witnessing the truth of a legendary lake-creature being a robot, cursed wax statues, a telepathic evil-genius, a human copy machine, we've solved a time-lost cover-up scheme, we've traveled trough time, I found a video-game that brings it's character into the real world, I found magical crystals that can induce shrinking and growing, we fended off a creature made of knock-off candy, and there's even the magical beasts that I met!"  
Mabel sighed and hopped onto her bed, lying down and grabbed her knitting needles. If ever something bugged her, or if she was sad, her coping mechanism was knitting. And with all the sadness, anger, denial, and confusion in her at the time, she would probably be able to knit enough scarves and sweaters for everyone in Gravity Falls, including the paranormal creatures.  
"I feel ya, bro, but I doubt if you'll find something in there that could help us at all…"  
Dipper looked over at Mabel, and saw that she was knitting at super fast speed. And the pace she was going, she could probably finish an entire clothing stores' worth of sweaters by the end of the day.  
He slipped onto Mabel's bed and put his arm around her. Mabel looked away from her knitting and smiled, realizing that Dipper was still caring about how she felt. She stopped knitting and gave him a bit of a side-ways hug before continuing, but slowing down now that Dipper had eased her.


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later, a very official car was seen driving into Gravity Falls, and as it passed through town, many people noticed this, knowing that this car wasn't a type anyone who lived in town would drive. Conversations were exchanged on seeing this, as the last time something like this had happened was at the beginning of summer, when Dipper and Mabel's parents had taken them there, as they were very well-to-do and could drive cars such as this. But what confused so many people was that this car drove all the way to the Mystery Shack.  
As it parked, Stan had changed the sign on the door, letting it be known that they were closed early for 'legal reasons'. Many believed that Stan was finally being sued or was selling the shack to a realtor, but no one knew. Those who knew exactly what was happening had kept it a secret. Wendy kept her lips sealed, aside from telling her dad, who promised to keep it a secret as well. Soos kept it a secret as well, and hadn't told a soul.

The lawyer stepped out from the car he had rented from the airport a few towns over and finally made it to his destination. He looked up and saw the sign to the Mystery Shack, seeing that the 'S' in Shack had fallen down. From what he had heard in casual conversations with his late client, Evan Pines, this word that shouldn't be, described Stan perfectly (at times), but when it came to family, he was one-hundred percent reliable.  
"Let's hope you were right, Evan" the lawyer said and walked up to the front door, proceeding to knock on the screen door in front of it, as there wasn't a doorbell.  
At the door, he saw both the children of his late client answer the door.  
"Why, hello, kids" he said to them "I'm here to talk with your uncle, is he here?"  
Dipper stepped back, making space for him to come in.  
"Yeah, Grunkle Stan's here, he's been expecting you" he explained. "But what took you so long?" Mabel asked.  
The man sighed.  
"There isn't an airport for this town, so I had to make one for the closest town with one, but what with it being the end of summer and many people heading home on flights, I had to wait a few days to get mine approved." he explained and stepped inside.  
Mabel had ran up-stairs and a few minutes later came down with Stan. He was faintly different than how his late client had described him, but basically the same; semi-elderly with a five o'clock shadow, a pair of glasses, dressed in a suit and wearing a fez hat.  
"So I'm guessing you're the lawyer who gave me the news?" Stan asked him.  
The man nodded.  
"Yes, I am James Joseph, your late nephew's attorney, and caretaker of the children's affairs."  
Stan guided him from the gift shop of the shack and into the kitchen area. As he looked around, James realized that the place was actually pretty clean and organized, while the outside looked a bit weather-beaten. But that's what he expected from a country-like town.  
Mabel pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and James sat down, setting his suitcase on the table, which contained the documents for him and Stan to sign.  
"So…" he began, opening the case, which blocked his view, as he heard a few more chairs scooting out and being sat in.  
As he took out the documents and sat them at the side of the suitcase, which he set down afterwards, he saw that not only was Stan sitting across from the table, but both Dipper and Mabel were at each side of the table as well, making each person sit at the circular table with another person right across from them.  
James slightly shook his head at seeing the twins.  
"If its fine with you, I don't believe they should be involved within this, this issue involves only you and I." he told Stan.  
Stan shook his head back.  
"This issue doesn't involve just me and you; it involves the kids, too. In case you don't remember, it's THEIR parents that died, so they have a right to know what's going on." he said, with a bit of a glare.  
James nodded his head a bit. This showed that he cared about the kids.  
"Well, fine then."  
He picked up a few sheets of paper, and slid them over to Stan.  
"As you know, your nephew was a very well-to-do man, with business deals involving sports teams, many of them with the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics."  
Stan nodded. His nephew had been very active in sports as a child, and both his favorite teams were in Oakland. But, doubting if he could ever make a professional sports team, he had instead taken a career in business and was actually able to secure sponsors for said sports teams, which is why he lived in Piedmont California, just outside of Oakland. Stan had explained this to Dipper and Mabel yesterday, as they were very interested in learning about their parents. Their Great Uncle told them of this, and said he'd have much more to tell them as time would go on.  
"So, with his investments he made through his business deals, he has made a decent amount of money, which now is to be passed down to his children." James said.  
Dipper and Mabel smiled a bit at this.  
"But as they are still minors, I am instilling their inheritance within you as the trustee." James said, sliding a few bank documents and receipts over to Stan.  
Stan looked them over and nodded as he read, occasionally readjusting his glasses.  
"Seems legit" he said.  
"Of course you know that this isn't your money to spend, right?" James asked.  
Stan again nodded.  
"Of course, it's for the kids" he replied.  
"But, if they so choose, they are allowed to spend the money on what they want, but, with you being the trustee, I am hoping you will make wise decisions on whether or not they have the money."  
Stan nodded again, and then turned to the twins.  
"Now kids," he said to them "This is a large amount of money your parents are leaving you, and while I will take a portion of it out to help make your lives here a bit more well, livable, here, that doesn't mean you will be able to take this money out whenever you want. I want you to be smart with this."  
Both Dipper and Mabel nodded.  
"And, if I can figure out how, I will divide it up within four different accounts; two of which I shall give to you kids for a little spending money, but I trust you to be smart with." He told them in a serious tone.  
Dipper and Mabel both nodded again.

"But the other two accounts will be for each of you when you turn eighteen and become legal adults." Stan explained "The accounts you will be able to access for now will have a smaller amount of money so you can learn to stretch your dollar, that way, when you inherit your larger amounts, you will be smarter at spending."  
Both Dipper and Mabel said that they understood all of what Stan had explained. Stan looked back at the attorney.  
"I am glad that you have told them this, and it seems that you've thought this through well enough, so I will set up the accounts for these children for you." James told Stan, and wrote a few notes in a digital planner.  
Stan closed his eyes and nodded.  
"Well, as well as money, many of the children's things will be transported here via moving vans, and all the funds have been paid for this, but…" he let it hang.  
"Only if they so choose to stay here in Gravity Falls with you."  
Without even waiting for James to question them, both Dipper and Mabel nodded frantically. Stan put a hand on each of their shoulders and told them to calm down.  
James stood and looked at his surroundings.  
"So, Mr. Pines, I've looked over a couple of your records, and while most of them are a bit questionable, when it comes to family, I see that you are fully determined to make sure things are always good."  
Stan stood up as well.  
"Of course." he said.  
"And, as I've heard from your nephew, this place, your home, has been transformed into a tourist trap called the 'Mystery Shack', as I have seen the gift shop, and the broken sign."  
Stan agreed to this "Yeah, but I wouldn't really call it a 'trap', merely a place for tourists to stop by."  
"Have you put the children to work in your store?" James asked accusingly.  
"Which I must tell you is violating child labor laws" he added.  
Stan shook his head.  
"Really, the only work the kids do around here are mere household chores; sweeping, dusting, the usual things." he described "I admit that they DO work in the gift shop from time to time, but only by doing house chores in the gift shop as well. I have two other employees who do the harder work, and they spend time with the kids as well. And if the kids so asked, I would pay them for working here, and have even let them have a few things from the gift shop as possessions of their own."  
"I really only have these kids best interests at heart and since I am, I hope, to become their legal guardian, I want to be the best they can have." Stan finished "I'll change however I have to, to make sure they stay with me as their last remaining family member, as I have changed in the past few days and will change even more from what I was in the past."  
James eyed Stan for a minute, at first being unsure, and even though a little part of him doubted it, he finally accepted it. He held out a hand and both he and Stan shook. Stan smiled gladly and shook fervently, knowing he would keep his promise.  
"Well, from how I saw the children's reactions, it seems they do want to stay here in town with you. So I will have you sign a few of the documents I brought over, thus making you the children's legal guardian and for them to make this town their new residence of living, allowing you to look after all their affairs. I will mail them when I get back to town and sort them out, and within a few weeks, they will be officially living here."

The reality of this finally hit Dipper and Mabel. They had been around town, and knew, outside of the crazy things, it was semi-normal for a small town, only having one elementary, middle, and high school. So they would be attending the middle school within a few weeks or so and then the high school if they stayed here up until that time. But they understood and reassured the lawyer that they truly did want to stay in Gravity Falls.

"There is one more thing I want you to know though, Stan" James said.  
He took one last package of paper from his suitcase.  
"It seems that on both your nephew and his wife's wills, they have arranged that they be buried here in town, so their funeral will be held here. Their bodies will be flown in and the funeral will be held as soon as possible. As the last remaining family member, as you have said, you will be able to look after the affairs of this burial, but if you so choose, you can leave it up to the town."  
Stan sighed at this, and looked over the other papers as well. He shook his head slightly but said "I want to look over this, but I don't know if I can handle it completely, this is well, kinda hard for me too, ya know?"

James totally understood.  
"Well, basically, the funeral is to be held here, they will be buried by the shores of Gravity Falls Lake, and whatever you want to be held before, during, and after the funeral is up to both you as well as the kids. You do not have to decide on all the things now, but you will have to soon."  
"Alright, I get it, let's look these over. I know my nephew and his wife more than anyone, so I'll make a few decisions on this." Stan said, and sat back down.  
James sat with him and they went over the affairs of the funeral, occasionally getting advice, tips, and approval from the kids.

After a few hours of discussing the affairs, events, and documents, James Joseph finally left to return and have the documents sent in and approved. It seemed that in time, word had spread around town from the only other person who knew about what had happened to Dipper and Mabel; Robbie.  
Robbie had let it be known that both Dipper and Mabel's parents were dead, and as he learned, and what was unbeknownst to the twins, their parents were very well known in this town. Robbie was disappointed in this, as he had hoped that letting out the secret would, somehow, make something bad happen to the twins, but it only made them the trending topic of the town, and it seemed all the residents were saying that they wanted to attend the funeral. But not everyone had known, and those who didn't, would soon learn.

The next day, Candy and Grenda showed up at the Mystery Shack, as they had heard what had happened the very previous day. They went there hoping to cheer up Mabel. She told them that she really didn't need it, but her friends assured her that a day out with them could help lift her spirits even more. Mabel finally agreed and left with them.  
Since Dipper hadn't made friends like Mabel had, Wendy had invited him to hang out with her and her friends, but he politely declined, even though he was amazed that she offered, instead of him having to ask. But he said that he was going to take care of a few things, and would happily join them next time. Wendy was slightly relieved by his answer, as, since she had dumped Robbie, she was worried how this would affect her group of friends, but she would let the chips fall where they would. She had her reasons for dumping Robbie, and she would tell her side of the story when she'd have to.  
So, while Mabel went out to hang out with her friends, after approval from her Grunkle Stan, Dipper headed out to see what he could do to help himself with this issue, hoping he could find some kind of way to have closure with his parents. He got approval from his Grunkle Stan to leave for the day as well, but he did not tell him the complete details.  
Dipper set out with his '3' to spots of intrigue labeled in it, while Mabel, Grenda and Candy headed into town for some fun. Unfortunately, both of the Mystery Twins had someone on their tails, their enemies that lived in the town; Robbie and Pacifica.

Pacifica Northwest, while in one of her family's limos, was seeing Mabel leave the shack and enter into town. Pacifica made the chauffeur drop her off in the middle of town. She stayed hidden as best as she could, which was actually easier for her lately, even with how popular she was. So no one knew that it was apparent that she was following them.  
She followed Mabel and her friends because, for some reason unknown to her, Mabel and her brother had become popular within the time limit of a few days. This infuriated her! Mabel didn't even seem to want to soak up the popularity; she actually looked sad.  
"That unappreciative little brat!" she said, unaware, in her anger, that she was basically describing herself.

After Dipper had revealed her ancestor's secret to her, she felt so humiliated, even if no one else knew. She had shredded the evidence, but she didn't doubt Dipper; he was smarter than he looked and probably had his own copies, perhaps even the original ones. So she had stayed on the down-low whenever she saw them both together. Dipper probably carried the secret cover-up with him.  
But, seeing that he wasn't with his sister, she felt that this was the perfect opportunity to torment Mabel even more!  
"No one steals my spotlight from me!" she said, and let out a despicable laugh, un-noticed in the large crowd.

Dipper had made his way into the woods, hoping he could get help from one of his allies; the Multi-bear. He made sure though, that he avoided the territory where the Manotaurs dwelled. While they had allowed him to live, even after declaring not to slay the Multi-bear, it didn't mean that he wasn't one of their enemies.

Robbie stayed a few yards behind Dipper, un-noticed by the pre-teen in his determination. It was a bit hard for him to keep up, because he was still in pain from how hard Wendy had kneed his sacred area. But he maintained a slow pace where he could keep up with Dipper and keep him in his sights. As well as this, he would find the chance when they were deep enough into the woods to finally ambush the small pre-teen and make him pay for what he had caused!  
Robbie had planned to be the one to dump Wendy, not the other way around. He was going to do it after he was 'done' with her, and he hadn't even hit first-base with her yet.  
So it was time for his revenge!

As Dipper made his way deeper and deeper into the woods, he finally came to a clearing and had the mountain in his sights. But before he could continue on, he could feel the ground begin to shake.  
"Oh no!" he declared, and dove behind a rock.

Robbie laughed silently in pleasure.  
"Just stay right there, squirt! You'll get your just deserts!" he said quietly, punching one fist into his open palm.  
He slowly made his way over when he felt the shaking of the ground as well. He stopped for a moment, but then ignored it. He finally was getting close until he saw why the ground was shaking.  
"What the-" he said, as he saw a giant creature pass him by, not noticing him. It was giant and hairy with horns, and looked almost like an ox, with hooves for feet. He stayed completely still as it passed him by.  
But, while it hadn't noticed him, it did notice another…

The Manotaur took a whiff of the air around him and smelled something familiar.  
"D-Destructor?" the Manotaur uttered curiously.  
Dipper recognized this voice and silently groaned. This was the first Manotaur he met; Chutzpah.  
He looked around at the ground for a bit, and with another whiff of the air, he pulled a bush completely out of the ground and saw Dipper behind a rock.  
"AH!" Dipper said and got up to run, but Chutzpah grabbed Dipper by the collar of his shirt with just his thumb and fore-finger.  
"CRUD!" Dipper said, and continued trying to run, even though his efforts were fruitless.  
"Wait, Destructor" the large creature said calmly.  
Dipper looked back and could see that Chutzpah didn't seem angry, he seemed, at the very worst, curious.  
"Why're you here in the forest, Destructor?" Chutzpah asked.  
Dipper thought up a lie, as he didn't want to reveal his true intentions.  
"I was just walking, trying to find something that I lost" he answered, basically lying and telling the truth all at once.  
Chutzpah eyed him, and could tell by the tone of his voice that he was at least half-way lying. With another whiff, he smelled once more that emotional issues were plaguing Dipper.  
Chutzpah set Dipper down, and when he didn't make an attempt to run again, he sat down, making the ground shake only once.  
"Again, I can smell emotional issues upon you. What are your true intentions here in the forest, Destructor?" he questioned Dipper.  
Dipper was hasty to tell him. How did he know that Chutzpah wouldn't tell the other Manotaurs about what he was doing? He could outsmart them, but if they made an effort to hurt him, he would be killed.  
As Chutzpah sensed the mixed feelings in Dipper, he spoke up again.  
"While failing to destroy the Multi-bear for reasons we did not condone, you are not an enemy of us Manotaurs. You still remain neutral. And as you were the first and only person to take our advice and not back down, you are still okay in my book." he explained.  
Dipper smiled a bit, and then frowned. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his book.  
"I'm trying to see if there's something that I can find that could help me with a problem I have."  
Chutzpah nodded, urging Dipper to go on. Dipper reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and opened a section of it that contained pictures. He pulled out one of the pictures. This picture was of him, his mom, his dad, and Mabel at an A's game, in the owner's box.  
"My parents have been in an accident and now they're dead. I want to see if there's any way for me to bring them back. And, yes, if you are wondering, I am actually going to the Multi-Bear to see if he can help me. I don't care what you and the other Manotaurs think. I have my own issues to solve."  
Chutzpah missed the last few things that Dipper had said. He saw the picture in Dipper's hands and as he looked at it, he could recognize the man in the picture. This man was a legend to the Manotaurs, an honorary Manotaur amongst them.  
He snatched the picture from Dipper's hands. He held the tiny photo in one hand with his thumb and fore-finger, and continued to stare at it. He held it up to Dipper.  
"This man, this man in this picture, is your father?!" he asked urgently.  
Dipper nodded, a bit frightened by Chutzpah's sudden urgent tone and frantic nature. At Dipper's answer, Chutzpah stood.  
"This man is a true hero to us Manotaurs!" he declared.  
He stood away from Dipper, as horrible memories began to flood back into his mind.  
"When a dark force had begun to take over these woods, the undead seeming to pop-up from the ground everywhere, and when all hope seemed lost, HE managed to stop them!" he regaled to the young preteen "your father is the only one who stood up to the dark leader of the undead, and survived. He was the one to slay him!"  
"Unfortunately, the dark leader was not completely killed, he shall be reincarnated soon. But as this man, your father, was the only one to survive and to be the one to slay him, he has, and will always be a hero, and a legend among the Manotaurs."  
Dipper was amazed.  
Chutzpah turned and got down on one knee, bowing his head and closing his eyes. He set one arm upon his bent knee and his alternate hand on Dipper shoulder. Dipper's legs buckled but he still managed to stand up.  
"For your father being the legend he is, we Manotaurs shall be forever in his debt." he said mournfully.  
"But now that he is gone on, his spirit lives in you!" he told Dipper, opening his eyes to look at him, and pointed at Dipper's chest "For being the son of our hero, you are an honorary Manotaur, no matter what you have done."  
"Tell me, Destructor; when is your Father's burial ceremony?"  
Dipper shrugged.  
"We're holding it by Gravity Falls Lake, but we're not sure which day. And it's not just his; it's my mom's, too, unfortunately."  
Chutzpah saw the sad look on Dipper's face, and, even though a true man did not do so, he picked up Dipper and hugged him as lightly as possible, as to refrain from crushing him.  
He set Dipper down and held out his hand.  
"I must ask if I may have the picture of your father. I will tell the other Manotaurs of his death and of you being his son, but I need proof."  
Dipper was unsure, but he knew he had more pictures of his parents. He slowly handed it to Chutzpah. Before setting it in his hand, he held it back.  
"You'll return it, right?" he asked.  
Chutzpah nodded.  
"I will. A man never breaks a promise!"  
And at that, Dipper handed the picture to him. In an instant, Chutzpah turned around and began to run in the alternate direction, beginning to charge, heading to do as he had said. Dipper smiled and knew that, now, he didn't need the Multi-bear's help. He was accepted by both him and the Manotaurs. He then set off for a new destination; The Dusk 2 Dawn.  
"Maybe they can help me…" Dipper said quietly, remembering the ghosts that haunted the place.  
"I still have them on my side, sorta…"

Once Robbie had seen that giant creature sit down and actually talk with Dipper, he had high-tailed it out of the woods, knowing that if Dipper had been friends with that creature at all, he wouldn't be able to get his revenge on Dipper. He had a bad enough experience with that Rumble guy from the fighting game in the arcade. He didn't want to experience déjà vu.  
Once he had made it out of the woods, after stopping to catch his breath, he saw Dipper leave a little over an hour later and make his way to a new destination.  
"Aw, great, now where's he goin'?" Robbie said in exasperation, but still followed him.

Back in town, Pacifica had been following Grenda, Candy, and Mabel constantly throwing insults at them wherever they went.  
When at the town candy shop, she made comments on Grenda's weight, Candy being a cannibal, and Mabel's braces.  
"Watch out with that taffy, Mabel. It'll get caught in your braces and then you won't be able to open your mouth."  
Pacifica let out a small laugh.  
"Actually, that doesn't seem too bad" she said, and laughed cruelly as she snatched the taffy from Mabel's hand, unwrapped it, and ate it. She threw a quarter on the front counter and left.  
When she 'ran into them' at the arcade, she made comments on how no boy in there would pay attention to them.  
"Sinking so low as to try and hook up with nerds?" she asked "Even THEY'RE out of your leagues!"  
She left the arcade laughing, not even realizing that those girls were there to play games, not flirt.  
And, at the movie theater, she had knocked the bucket of popcorn out of Mabel's hands, and sat right behind them at the movie, throwing popcorn at each of them when they didn't expect it. And right when the movie was over, she threw her empty soda and popcorn bucket in their seats, as they had stayed to watch the credits.  
"Oh, wait, that's not where the garbage cans are!" she said out loud to herself in fake realization as she looked at them.  
"But you all do look pretty trashy, I guess it was an easy mistake." she said to them and laughed once again as she left.  
Candy fought back her tears and Grenda stood to go and 'take care of' Pacifica. But Mabel got Grenda to calm down and handed Candy a tissue.  
"She's not worth it, guys" she informed them and instead of going after Pacifica, they left to the bathroom to clean themselves up.

Dipper finally made it to the abandoned and closed Dusk 2 Dawn. He was unsure of going here, as, while he had gotten along with those ghosts just because of his age and they had freed his friends, he wasn't so sure if it would be such a wise idea to go in again. But he shook off his nerves and went in.

Robbie followed Dipper until they both made it to the Dusk 2 Dawn. Robbie's eyes went wide in fear as he saw it. When he last went there with the group, after Dipper had laid in the dead body silhouette, and all those crazy things started happening, Robbie had managed to make it out. He didn't even recall how he did it, but he remembered that one moment he was in the store, and the next, outside and near Thompson's van.  
But, unfortunately, Thompson still had the keys, and while Robbie knew that he could run back into town and to his house, he knew that he would have to explain to all his friends' parents, and his own, why they weren't with him. But, before he could shrug the subject off of him, he was back in the Dusk 2 Dawn all over again, but everything was back to normal. After Wendy told them what had happened, he was satisfied to hear Dipper stand up for them, but didn't really care. But what really confused him more than just appearing back in there, he wondered that, while everyone had no recollection of what had happened, he still remembered. But they wouldn't believe him when he told them. He wondered why this happened, but decided to shove the memories so far into his mind that he could ignore it.  
But, being back there, he was scared once more. So he let Dipper go in. He would deal with the little runt when he came back out; he'd have to at one point or another!

Dipper had managed to climb right over the fence and right back down. Unlike the teenagers and Mabel, he didn't just climb up and jump right down, he was careful about going up and climbing down.  
When he had both feet on the ground, he slowly walked over to the front door of the abandoned convenience store. Even though it was the middle of the day, and nothing was supposed to be scary, he still felt that aura of creepiness like someone would feel when walking into a grave-yard late at night. But, keeping his mission in mind, he shook off his nerves, took a deep breath and walked in.  
He found the light switches and turned on the lights. Remembering exactly what took place the previous time he had been there, Dipper found the body outlines and immediately fell onto his back, laying on one of them. The outline illuminated and the lights went out.  
Everything started floating around and went on the ceiling. He curled into a ball as he felt gravity reverse itself as he fell onto the ceiling. His back took the force of the impact, but he thankfully did not get injured.

He stood up and looked around and finally saw something. A glowing green essence in the air above him. He focused on it and the essence split in two. Slowly, but surely, the two glowing green blobs changed from green to blue, and then morphed into the same elderly ghosts he had seen last time.  
The old man with the nametag that read 'Pa' looked down at him, frowning a bit, and old woman with the nametag that read 'Ma' shook her head.  
"Why have you returned, boy?" Pa asked, annoyed.  
"You said that we did not have to worry about you and your friends coming back" Ma reminded him, shaking her finger at him.  
"We do not like liars, or those who break their promises." Pa informed him "Those are prime teenager traits."  
"Do we need to remind you how much we HATE teenagers?" Pa asked, the glowing essence around him changing from blue to red, flames beginning to rise.  
Dipper shook off his fear once more and stood tall, looking up at them. He maintained a determined gaze.  
"I've come here to ask you both about something" he said clearly.  
Pa depleted the flames over him and changed back from red to blue.  
"Well, what is it?" Ma asked, hoping to get Dipper to his point.  
Dipper took a deep breath.  
"As ghosts, are you able to travel long distances, or do you have to stay wherever it is that you've died?" he asked.  
Both of the ghosts looked at each other, and then back at him. They were a bit confused by that, but, since he had been the only one who had been polite to them when he was last here, they decided to answer.  
"Well, as ghosts, the only reason we're here is because we were afraid of death." Pa answered.  
"We could also appear in the grave-yard where we've been buried, but since that place was the main reason we were afraid of death, we decide to only appear here." Ma added.  
"We can't really leave here; our souls are attached to this place upon the living realm. If we decided to leave, no one would be able to see us or communicate with us." Pa said "That wouldn't be so bad, but WE also wouldn't be able to see or talk to each other, either."  
Dipper nodded.  
"Thank you" he said, politely, which got both spirits to smile; now seeming calm.  
"Why did you want to ask us that?" Ma asked.  
Dipper sighed.  
"My parents died recently, and, well, I was hoping that, if anything, they could return as ghosts themselves, but I understand that they wouldn't be afraid of death." he told them.  
The ghosts both seized floating in the air and landed on the floor (which had been the ceiling) and stood there with him.

"Please, if you can tell us; what were your parents like?" Pa asked him.  
Dipper looked up with a smile.  
"Why?" he asked excitedly "Would you be able to bring them back with some sort of astral-recall ghost power?"  
Seeing that smile on his face nearly broke both of the ghost's nonexistent, un-beating hearts. But they had to tell him the truth.  
"I'm sorry child, but no" Ma told him "We're just really curious."  
Dipper's shoulders slumped, so bummed that he didn't even care that he had been called a child. So, once again, he reached into his pocket and retrieved his wallet once again, and, once again, pulled a picture out.  
This was one of his parents on their anniversary; Mabel had taken the picture, but had held the camera upside down. So, the date was printed upside-down in the upper right corner instead of right-side up and on the lower left. Dipper held it up and the ghosts tried to retrieve it, but their hands kept phasing through it.  
So Pa made a glowing essence around it and levitated the picture up to him and his wife. He readjusted his glasses and showed it to Ma. Her eyes widened and their jaws dropped.  
Dipper was a bit on edge at their reactions.  
"Um, uh, what's wrong?" he asked them, feeling un-easy.  
Both ghosts snapped back to the situation going on.  
"We know these two…" Pa said quietly to Dipper.  
Dipper looked up.  
"Huh?" he asked.  
Pa waved his hand and the picture turned around so Dipper could see it.  
"We know them!" said Pa in excitement.  
"We recognize them!" Ma told Dipper "These two were the only teenagers we actually allowed in our store when we were alive!"  
"This man," Pa said to Dipper, pointing above the picture at his and Mabel's dad "your father, was one of the most polite and respectful teenagers we had ever met." Pa told Dipper.  
"He didn't approve of rap, just like us, and he always helped us with heavy loads that our old bones had trouble lifting, or would help us with other tasks we had trouble doing, and we would give him treats, such as free sodas, or chips, or ice-creams." Ma began to tell "He would always politely try to refuse, but after us insisting, he would accept."  
Ma then pointed above the picture at Dipper and Mabel's mother.  
"And this young woman may have been one of the prettiest young women we had ever seen. She would always come in to chat with us, not even caring about style or fashion like other teenagers. She loved hearing all my tales of being her age."  
"But," Pa added "what we really loved about these two was that they were so honest. If they didn't have enough money to pay us for what they were in here to buy, they would always either work off the load or pay us back when they next came in, plus interest."  
"True, at times, they would come in and buy stuff for their teenage punk friends waiting outside, but we were okay with it, because they were honest, even to those we didn't approve of." said Ma.  
"These two actually met in this here store!" Pa remembered and told Dipper, spreading her arms out to indicate the store around them.  
"Your father was helping us bring in some supplies and your mother just walked in." Ma regaled to Dipper "They both bumped into each other, and the second they looked at each other, we could tell that they just clicked."  
"They began talking like they knew each other for years." Pa said, smiling at the memory "They talked for so long that we finally had to politely insist that they leave, because it was getting late and we didn't want them to be in here all night."  
"They started dating right after that, and they seemed inseparable." Ma said "Why, we actually were invited to their wedding. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it because it was so far away, and we were afraid to fly."  
Pa stuck out his arm and then an old picture frame came floating from the back and into Dipper hands.  
Dipper wiped the dust off and saw an old, worn picture of his parents on their wedding day. His mother was in an elegant white dress, and his father, in a stylish black tuxedo. In the corner was written 'To Esther and Marty. We wish you could have been there. Thanks for everything.'  
Dipper's eyes filled with tears. He held the picture back up and Pa floated it straight to the back of the store, where it hung back up where it had been.  
"Th-thanks" said Dipper to the ghosts, and he wiped his tears away.  
The ghosts both put him up on the floor (ceiling?) above them, and as the blood rushed to his head Pa said "Again, we are sorry son, but know this; your parents were the greatest teenagers to ever live, and they must have been even greater parents."  
Finally, at that, they both faded away, the lights all came back on and everything fell back onto the floor as gravity finally changed back to normal, and the front doors opened.  
Dipper's face flushed back to its normal color and he saw his picture of him, Mabel, and his parents by his foot. He picked it up and placed it back in his wallet. A small smile was on his face once again, knowing that, while he wasn't getting his parents back as ghosts, he was learning more and more about them, and to him, that was pretty close.  
But it wasn't close enough!  
He left the store and climbed back over the fence, a new destination in his mind; the arcade, and more specifically, the 'Fight Fighters' game!

Robbie saw Dipper leave the convenience store after about 15 minutes, and saw him climb over the fence. Of course, when Dipper made it to the top, instead of jumping off and dropping to the ground, he climbed down.  
Robbie grumbled in anger at this, hoping that, if Dipper landed flat footed on the ground, the resulting impact would injure him enough for Robbie to finally get him.  
But, Dipper hadn't done it, so Robbie had to stick to hiding and stalking. Sooner or later, he would finally get that little twerp, and then get his revenge!

Back in town, Mabel, Candy, and Grenda were still being pursued by Pacifica. Finally, after hours of this, a confrontation was taking place.  
"Why the heck are you bothering us Pacifica?" Mabel finally asked the Prima Donna.  
Even though she had told her friends to ignore her, after being followed the whole day and being bothered when they were trying to have a good time, Mabel was fed up with it.  
Pacifica casually leaned against the wall.  
"Well, it could be the fact that, for being such a silly little loser, for some reason, both you and your brother's reputations have suddenly sky-rocketed" Pacifica informed Mabel "And, being that you both are now actually above me on the social rank, I must say, I don't approve of that, honey."  
"And, if I cannot get my top-position back on the popularity scale, I'm showing the NEW popular girl how much it will suck for her if she doesn't call off whatever fake rumor has been spread to increase her popularity."  
Mabel sighed and hung her head sadly.  
"I wish it was fake, Pacifica" she told the rich girl sadly.  
Pacifica snickered cruelly.  
"Oh, so you've started to put out?" she asked.  
"What SOME girls will do just to get a little popularity…"  
That question and following comment hurt Mabel more than all the insults Pacifica had said to her since they met. Tears came to her eyes and she covered her eyes to hide them.  
Before Pacifica could hurl another insult, Grenda and Candy stood in front of Mabel.  
"Lay off her already!" Grenda nearly ordered the blonde.  
Pacifica shot her an icy cold stare and Grenda felt like she had shrunken to the size of a pea. She stepped back, cowering behind Candy.  
"It is not her fault that she is popular, and she has not had to 'put out' for it to happen." Candy informed Pacifica, speaking in her over-enunciating way.  
Pacifica rolled her eyes.  
"Yeah, right!" she denied "in a small town like this, that's the only way ANY girl could become popular outside of family or money!"  
Pacifica flowed her hand through her hair.  
"And luckily, I have BOTH!"  
Mabel uncovered her eyes and an angry frown came across her face.  
"My parents DIED, okay?!" she nearly yelled at Pacifica in anger, tears still in her eyes.  
Grenda, Candy, and Pacifica all jumped back in surprise at Mabel's outburst. Grenda and Candy both comforted Mabel, as she had managed to forget in all that they had done that day, but saying it made her feel miserable all over again.  
But, while Mabel was comforted by her friends, her arch-enemy smiled evilly. No sooner did the insult come to her mind, did she want to say it. But she'd held it back, because she needed a little information first.

"Oh, is that it?" Pacifica asked, sounding a bit sad.  
Mabel just nodded, whimpering a bit as she sniffled and wiped a tear away. She had no clue Pacifica was faking her concern.  
"Well, how did it happen?" Pacifica asked.  
Mabel just mumbled "Car crash. Eighteen wheeler."  
"Oh, that's how…" Pacifica said, nodding.  
Mabel nodded again, and wiped her sweater sleeve across her eyes.  
"Well, are you so sure?" Pacifica asked her.  
Mabel looked up.  
"I was just told yesterday by my Grunkle Stan." she barked out "Of course I'm sure!"  
Pacifica shook her head.  
"Tsk, tsk, little Mabel, that's not what I meant…" she said to Mabel.  
She turned around.  
"What I meant was; are you so sure…" she started.  
She let it hang and glanced back at Mabel, Pacifica and Grenda out of the corner of her eye.  
"…that they didn't PLAN it?" Pacifica finished.  
She turned around.  
"After all, with a silly little embarrassment like you for a daughter, and your wannabe-detective brother who's pursuing a girl that's WAY out of his league, in more than just one way, for a son, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to escape from the both of you for good!"  
Pacifica was on a roll, and she wasn't stopping. Mabel's heart was sinking as the [former] queen-bee went on.  
"So they shipped the both of you off to this town, and no sooner than two months later, they finally took the plunge and escaped the embarrassment of you being their children forever!"  
She laughed cruelly once more, and at that, Mabel broke down into a waterfall of tears, plowed past her friends, and ran off.  
Pacifica laughed even more, and as she wiped a tear from her eye from laughing so much, she turned around and saw that Candy and Grenda were still there. And the anger in their eyes was so powerful Pacifica actually felt like she was standing near a fire.  
"That was very cruel, Pacifica!" said Candy.  
"And we're not letting this go!" Grenda said.  
Grenda glanced at Candy, and Candy nodded. At that, Grenda leapt before Pacifica could react and put the blonde into a headlock.  
"Ah, finally!" Grenda said in relief, smiling a bit evilly.  
Pacifica was shaking in fear now.  
"WH-what're you gonna do to me?"  
"Like Grenda has said, we are not going to let this go." Candy stated, and glanced a few feet away at the town square. In the middle was the stage that had always been there, and it may be just the perfect place to announce what had just taken place.  
"Grenda, bring Pacifica over to the stage inside the town square with me" Candy told her friend.  
"With pleasure" Grenda replied as she followed Candy, still holding Pacifica in a headlock, forcing her to walk with them.

Dipper made his way to the arcade and found the 'Fight Fighters' game to not being played. He casually walked over as to not arouse suspicion to himself that he would get if he walked to fast. He acted like he had dropped a coin and looked at the bottom right corner to see to check and saw that the spot where the original cheat code had been was still covered. He nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.  
After what had happened with Rumble McSkirmish, he didn't want anyone to make the same mistake he did, and had spray-painted over the spot later on that day with a shade of paint that was the same color as the machine. He did this when no one was looking, so, luckily, he wasn't asked afterwards about what he had done and why he had done it.  
But, in case anything would come up to where he would be desperate enough to use it again, he had copied the cheat code into a page of his '3' before spray-painting over it.  
He flipped through a few pages and found it. He then took a quarter out of his pocket and put it in the machine and then entered the cheat code 'to unleash ultimate power!'  
Just like last time, the game screen went black as if the power to the machine went out. But then it began to shake a bit and Dipper stepped back in precaution. Dipper shielded his eyes as the screen lit back up, and a bright white light shined out.  
"SELECT YOUR CHARACTER!" the voice of the machine said.  
Dipper thought over quickly all the characters in the game, knowing them all, even the ones that were still locked. But he knew there was only one he could still (probably) count on.  
"Rumble McSkirmish" Dipper stated.  
The screen lit up brighter and Dipper covered his eyes as to not be blinded. The light dimmed and out through the screen, once more, jumped Rumble McSkirmish.  
Rumble stood in his fighting stance, and, even though he had no looking down animation, Dipper could tell that the fighter was looking down at him.  
"Child boy!" Rumble said loudly, pointing in Dipper's direction "why do you summon me again?!"  
"I have beaten you fairly in combat! Do you wish to challenge me again?!"  
Even though Rumble was shouting, no one seemed to notice Dipper or the game character.  
Except one person…

Robbie followed Dipper into town, able to walk through the streets more casually as both he and Dipper were in public. He sped up his pace more as he followed Dipper, but still didn't want the kid to notice him. He needed the element of surprise!  
He followed Dipper to the arcade, but was unable to go in as the jingling bell of the arcade would make him noticed. So he stayed at the building next to the arcade, leaning against it and glancing into the window. He saw Dipper at the ''Fight Fighters'' game, pulling something out of his vest, and then insert a coin into the game, press a few buttons, and then the screen lit up brightly. And right from the machine leapt out the same character that nearly killed him!  
Robbie's blood ran cold in fear and he began to run. His cover must have been blown, and Dipper was now going to sic the character on him again. Unfortunately, he was wrong…

"Rumble, I haven't summoned you to fight, I've summoned you to ask you something." Dipper told him.  
Rumble turned around, facing away from him.  
"I do not associate with bad guys like you!" Rumble told him.  
"Rumble, please!" Dipper begged "Yes I know, I've lied to you, but you have already beaten me in combat. That makes us even!"  
Rumble did not reply. So Dipper knew he'd have to appeal to a side of Rumble that would make the Fight Fighter help anyone.  
"Fine…" Dipper said in a fake sad tone "I guess you don't care that my father is dead…"  
Rumble ignored this, thinking that Dipper was lying again, just like last time.  
"My mother's dead, too…" Dipper added, hoping that would get Rumble to notice.  
Rumble's eyes went wide. To him, no one would, or even should, ever lie about the death of BOTH of their parents! So he quickly turned around and crouched down so he could look Dipper in the eye.  
"What?! Who has killed them both?!" he asked urgently.  
"I will accept the challenge to avenge you, if that is what you wish!" Rumble told Dipper, and then threw out some combinations.  
"PAUNCH! KICK! PAUNCH!"  
Dipper avoided the blows as Rumble named the moves in his combination. Dipper recomposed himself and stepped back so he could look Rumble in the eye once more, as the game character was now standing.  
"Truthfully Rumble, no one has killed them-" he started.  
Rumble glared and turned around again.  
"-at least," Dipper went on "not on purpose."  
Rumble turned back around again, this time slowly, and he did not crouch down.  
"What I want to ask you is if there's any Fight Fighter that have any resurrection powers." Dipper finished.  
Unable to shake his head, Rumble instead told Dipper the answer.

"I am sorry, child-boy, but there are no fighters with such powers!" Rumble answered.  
"If there were, I would not need to fight Dr. Karate for killing MY father!"  
Dipper groaned, but accepted the answer. He then realized how he had not thought something over; how was he going to get Rumble back in the game?  
"Well, uh, thanks Rumble…" Dipper started.  
"You are welcome, and I am sorry!" Rumble said loudly, still in his fighting stance, his tone not changing to sound sympathetic.  
"But, how do I get you back where you came from without you having to fight?" Dipper asked him.  
Rumble stayed silent for a moment. But then he answered.  
"If a challenge is not present when I have been summoned, you may instead press cancel!" Rumble told him, and right in front of Dipper, just like last time, appeared a rectangular, pixilated button, but this one read 'Cancel'. He reached out and touched it, and as his hand came in contact, it made a slight 'ding' noise and the light from the machine lit back up, and Rumble turned around to face it.  
"Farewell, child-boy!" Rumble said to Dipper, and with a forward jump-kick, he was sucked back into the game. The screen then changed back to normal and Dipper's quarter came out from the return slot.  
He picked it up and put it back in his pocket and sighed once more.  
Everything he had done today had been a failure; his allies were only able to tell him about his parents, but not bring them back or help him contact them in.  
It finally hit him that he wouldn't get his parents back in any way, shape or form. He sank to the arcade floor on his knees and began to cry, still un-noticed.  
In a brief moment of insanity, he actually thought of asking Gideon, but his instincts took over and advised him to not do such a thing at all.  
He got up as well as he could, his knees shaking and his legs feeling weak. He left the arcade and something distracted him from his sadness and despair; there was a huge crowd gathered in the town square, and on stage in the middle of the square were Mabel's friends; Candy and Grenda. But what was more surprising was that Grenda had Pacifica Northwest, the most popular girl in town, in a headlock! He remembered Mabel telling him how Grenda had said she wanted to do that to Pacifica, but hadn't done it yet. Grenda actually held back her violent tendencies, so whatever Pacifica must have done, she probably deserved it!  
Dipper ran into the crowd so he could see what was going on, because Candy seemed to be announcing something to the crowd…

Grenda had followed Candy onto the stage, forcing Pacifica along with them. The microphone and sound system was still set up from the Pioneer Day festival. Candy tapped the microphone and she could hear the feedback. Those that were passing by heard this and stopped where they were to see what was going on. Some were confused on why the great-great-grand-daughter of the town founder was in a headlock, but all that did was raise their suspicion and make them stick around.  
Not one to talk in a big crowd, Candy was nervous on talking; even though she was angry about what had jut happened.  
"Um… uh… attention people of Gravity Falls," she started "there has been an issue. One I believe that you all should know has happened…"  
She looked out at the crowd and froze up, making her anger fade away and her fear take over. So Grenda calmly had her friend step aside and took over, taking Pacifica out of the headlock and holding her up by the scruff of her expensive jacket.  
"It seems that some people think they can say whatever they want and not worry about the consequences, people!" Grenda shouted, her deep voice echoing through the speakers.  
"This here girl, if she can be called that…" Grenda continued, glaring at Pacifica "has just insulted the parents of two very close friends of ours!"  
"Parents who, just very recently, have passed on!"  
The whole crowd gasped at that.  
"Yes, it seems that Pacifica Northwest believes that Dipper and Mabel Pine's parents actually planned their own death BECAUSE of Dipper and Mabel."  
All eyes in the crowd changed their view. Everyone went from being confused at what was going on, to glaring up at Pacifica for saying such a despicable thing.  
"Is THIS the girl we should all look up to, just because her great-great-grandfather supposedly founded this town?!"  
The whole crowd shook their heads.  
Pacifica's eyes went wide in fear; did Grenda and Candy know the cover-up scandal, too? They didn't, of course, but she didn't know that!  
"NO!" Grenda shouted "To sink so low as to say such a thing, Pacifica Northwest is an evil, dirty, despicable girl who does not even deserve to be popular at all!"  
"Her popularity and power over all of us less popular is GONE!" Grenda declared, and the whole crowd cheered in agreement.  
She dropped Pacifica next to her on the stage.  
"I'd run if I were you" she said quietly, but near the microphone, so everyone heard.  
The whole crowd booed and began to throw trash, pocket change, and whatever they could part with at the stage as Pacifica ran across it, beginning to cry. The crowd actually almost formed an angry mob to follow her, but decided not to.  
"Pacifica Northwest is now the town outcast!" Grenda shouted into the mic, and the whole crowd cheered in agreement.  
Pacifica heard this as she ran, and began to cry even harder.

After hearing this, Dipper was so angry at Pacifica saying such a thing about his parents that he decided that it was high-time that her family's secret was to be exposed.  
Pacifica was right to her assumptions; upon arriving back into town after the issue on the train with Blubs and Durland, Dipper had went into the copier store to duplicate the documents while Trembley and Mabel tried to see if it was possible to sneeze, cough, burp and yawn at the same time. Dipper had given Pacifica the duplicate documents, and kept the originals.  
Dipper headed home at non-stop speed, not even noticing the customers at the shack, Wendy saying 'hi' to him, Soos holding a hand out for a high-five from Dipper, Dipper leaving him hanging as he headed straight up to his and Mabel's room. He found Mabel curled up in her sweater, being in 'Sweater-Town' again, crying.  
"Hey, Mabel" he said quickly.  
Mabel just whined and rocked back and forth.  
"Do you remember what I did with those cover-up documents on the Northwest family?" he asked her.  
Mabel whined again, shaking her head as well as she could so her head wouldn't poke out. Hearing Pacifica's last name made her cry even harder.  
Dipper shook his head, bringing a hand to his chin, but then he snapped his finger's as he remembered it. He took the '3' out of his vest and opened up to a folder that he had inserted into it, which contained the original documents. He laughed in an almost evil way.  
"After what she said about mom and dad, she's going to regret it for the rest of her life after I tarnish her reputation even more than Grenda just did!"  
Mabel stood up, poking her head back out and sticking her arms through their sleeves. She went up to Dipper's side and had him put the paper's down.  
"What does that matter Dipper?" she asked.  
Dipper looked up at his sister in complete confusion.  
"Hey, she can't say those things about our parents just because she's popular, and even if she isn't anymore, she never had the right to say that. NO ONE does!" he explained "And what better to get revenge then to let the whole town know her family's most embarrassing secret!"  
Mabel groaned in aggravation.  
"This is why I didn't even tell her last time Dipper; revenge is pointless" she told Dipper.  
Dipper raised an eye-brow in shock.  
"So you're just gonna let this pass by? She's already been knocked down; we might as well kick her!" he told her angrily.  
Mabel shook her head and had him set the paper's down again.  
"That won't bring mom and dad back Dipper…" Mabel explained, and that hit Dipper hard.  
He set the paper's down and tears came to his eyes once more. He wanted to tell Mabel what he had learned, but it hurt him more to say it than it would probably hurt Mabel to find out.  
"Mabel, I…" he started, but couldn't finish.  
The tears were hot in his eye-lids and he let them slip down his face. He finally decided to just come clean.  
"I did everything I could today, I asked everyone I trusted, but I couldn't find anything" he told his twin.  
Mabel was confused, but guessed he would explain himself.  
"I tried to find anything to bring mom and dad back or at least for us to be able to contact them, but I couldn't find anything, I'm sorry…"  
Mabel pulled him closer and hugged him. Dipper shoved her off of him.  
"I'm sorry that I'm such a failure!" he nearly shouted.  
He grabbed the papers and threw them on the floor. He grabbed his book and slammed it on top of them. He jumped on top of it and began to stomp on it, but the book didn't even bend, the hardcover protecting its body and contents. He kicked it, but that didn't do anything either. He was going to run at it and rip its pages out, but Mabel stopped him.  
"Dipper STOP!" she nearly ordered.  
Hearing her tone got Dipper to freeze in mid-charge.  
"This isn't helping anything!" Mabel told her brother "You've gone through one phase and you're going into the second."  
Dipper never gave Mabel enough credit on her intelligence. He realized that she was talking about the five stage of death. He had gone from the first stage; denial coupled with isolation and into the second stage; anger. In this time and place, he and Mabel had switched places; he was being hopeful and was let down, while she was being realistic and facing the facts.  
Mabel grabbed Dipper by his shoulders, looking directly at him.  
"Don't beat yourself up over it, you don't have to do anything and you can't do anything" she told him "they're gone and that's that!"  
The tears came back and Dipper slipped down onto his knees when Mabel let him go.  
"Bu-but Mabel, th-this shouldn't have happened…" he told her.  
Mabel got on her knees to be at the same level as him. He looked up at her.  
"M-maybe we could find a way to create some time anomaly and get that Blendin guy to come back with his time machine and use it to-" he started.  
Mabel shoved him a little, causing him to fall back.  
"And now you're going into the third stage Dipper; bargaining." she told him "we can't reverse the process, and nothing we ever do could get it to not happen."  
Mabel didn't have to say what was happening now. Dipper was slipping into the fourth stage; depression. It could be seen on his face and the tears fell like a waterfall. Mabel put her arms around him and let him cry. As the tears and sobs escaped him, Dipper remembered that, while he hadn't gotten information on how to bring their parents back, he had gotten information about them, some that even their Grunkle Stan probably didn't know!  
"Uh, Mabel…" Dipper got her attention, pulling back as she took her arms off of him.  
"Yeah?" she asked.  
"Even though I didn't find anything really helpful, I've actually learned some things about mom and dad that is really very surprising." Dipper told her.  
A small smile came across Mabel's face.  
"Well, don't hold back, tell me!" she said, starting to get back into her happily silly mindset.  
Dipper sat back, leaning against the side of his bed, and Mabel sat next to him.  
"Well, the first thing I learned is from the Manotaurs; dad stopped some crazy evil undead lord that was infesting the forest." Dipper started "I also learned that mom and dad actually met at the old convenience store back when the owners were alive."  
Mabel smiled giddily in surprised. She egged her brother to go on, which Dipper obliged. The fourth stage of death, depression, may have been sinking in, but talking to his sister about all he had learned, making himself remember, helped numb the pain a bit as he began to smile.


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later, Mabel and Dipper's stuff arrived from Piedmont. Moving vans were filled with stuff from both their rooms, all packed into secure boxes. Even their beds had been taken apart to the component parts that they were made up of, and their mattresses were with them. The twins wondered how exactly they were going to fit all this stuff in the tiny room their great uncle had set up for them until he told them something.  
"You kids aren't staying up in there anymore. I've emptied out two of the rooms on the top floor and those are gonna be your rooms" he told them.  
"Seriously?!" Mabel asked in surprised.  
Stan looked down at her and Dipper with a smile.  
"Hey, if you kids are actually going to be living here, I'm not going to have you grow up in that tiny room." he said to her, explaining himself.  
"I said I'd be a better caretaker as your guardian, and I'm keeping that promise!"  
He looked into the vans.  
"And judging by how you both had your own rooms back home from all this stuff you have, I want to make this place as close to home as it can be." he went on "Thus, both of you getting your own rooms."  
Stan shrugged.

"I don't even use those rooms upstairs anymore, anyway" he added.  
So they began to bring all the stuff into the house, discovering that one of the rooms that Stan had cleared out was where the old wax museum had been. Dipper and Mabel 'Rock/Paper/Scissor'ed over who got that room, the loser (Dipper) got it. Mabel got the old Parlor the fake funeral has been held in as her room.  
"Just don't start a fire in that fireplace until I show how to properly do it, 'Kay, champ?" Stan told her.  
He realized that was the wrong thing to say and changed his mind.  
"Actually, don't start a fire in there at all!" he nearly ordered Mabel, but toned it down.  
Mabel nodded as she directed the moving crew to bring her stuff into the room.  
Mabel and Dipper's rooms were both right across from each other's, in case there was ever an issue and they needed each other.  
"I trust you both to take care of each other if I'm not around" Stan told them.  
While the crew were re-assembling Dipper and Mabel's beds, bookshelves, desks, and other things that had to be de-assembled and transported, Stan was handed something by one of the movers.  
"The lawyer wanted you to have this, it's something he forgot to give you." the head worker said, handing Stan an official looking document.  
Stan looked it over and realized it was the deed of ownership of his nephew's house in Piedmont.  
"Ah, he paid off fully, owning the house. Good idea, I gave him that advice" he told Dipper and Mabel "it's better to own than rent. That's why everything, from this house, to everything in it, I fully own."  
Stan tucked the deed into the jacket of his suit.  
"I'm going to put this deed in the safe with my deed to this place." he told the twins "This deed really belongs to you kids, but I don't think you all should own a house at your age, for now, capiche?"

They nodded and went into their rooms. The movers were done taking everything in, so now all that was left was for them to unpack all that had been delivered. They put their clothes into their dressers and closets in the rooms, made their beds, and added a few touches to their rooms to make it feel more like home; hanging up posters and pictures, putting books on the shelves, plugging in their electronics, and making the rooms just the way they liked them.  
But as it got later into the night, and they made their way off to bed, they just couldn't get comfortable.  
As Dipper was about to fall asleep though, he felt himself being shoved and shaken.  
"Psst, Dipper…" he heard.  
He rolled over and saw Mabel on the other side of his bed.  
"What is it Mabel?" he asked quietly, in exhaustion.  
"I can't sleep alone in that dark room…" she said sadly, pointing over at his door, which was closed.  
"Can I sleep in here with you?" she asked.  
Dipper smiled a bit and scooted to the side, opening up the covers.  
"Fine, get in here…" he said sympathetically.  
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Mabel said quietly.  
They both lay down, facing away from each other.  
"Nighty-night Dipper!" Mabel said, as she closed her eyes, a smile on her face.  
"G'night Mabel…" Dipper said, now being able to fall asleep.  
They both slept peacefully throughout the night.

The next day, as Dipper woke up, he looked and saw Mabel already gone. Mabel tended to get up earlier than him, believing in the old saying of 'The Early Bird gets the Worm'. Luckily though, she was smart enough to not believe in it literally.  
Dipper got himself ready, discovering that he slept later than he planned, as he saw Wendy already behind the counter in the gift shop. Mabel was at her side, and they were both on Wendy's laptop.  
"Oh, Dipper, you gotta check this out!" Wendy said, indicating him to come over.  
He went over and got up on another chair to look at the laptop screen with them.  
"Okay, so" Wendy started "Tambry was in town square the other day and she heard what went down with Mabel and Pacifica, so right after the whole fiasco, she made this."  
Wendy opened up the internet and showed a facebook page. All that was on it was a picture of Pacific with a giant red 'X' over her face, the name of the page being 'Anti-Pacifica'.  
"And you won't believe it, but almost every single person in Gravity falls has 'liked' this!" Wendy said.  
She scrolled over the 'like' button (which she had clicked herself) and it showed all those who had liked it.  
"My brothers, my dad, Soos, my friends" Wendy listed off "heck, I even created a page for Stan, just so he could 'like' it."

"The only people missing are Robbie-"  
Wendy frowned a bit angrily at this, but then shrugged it off.  
"-and you two" she said to the twins, turning her computer towards them.  
They both smiled, and then instantly opened up two separate tabs, logging onto their profiles, looked up the page, and 'liked' it. They then closed the tabs and turned the laptop back in Wendy's direction.  
"Huh, and I thought you were against revenge, Mabel" Dipper said to his sister.  
Mabel shrugged.  
"Eh, what can I say, I'm fickle" she rebutted with her usual happy/silly smile, even though it was over a grim issue.  
Mabel shot Dipper a look for a second, letting him know that, while she was okay with the anti-Pacifica page, she didn't want Dipper revealing Pacifica's family secret.  
"So, hey guys" Wendy said, getting their attention as she closed her laptop "I've been hearing from your uncle that your parent's funeral is gonna be a few days from now."  
Mabel and Dipper both nodded sadly. Today was Friday, and their parent's funeral would be on Sunday.  
"And, well, I thought if you guys want, why don't you come hang out with me and my friends tonight?" Wendy asked them.  
"Really?" Dipper asked, amazed that, once again, she offered, instead of him having to ask for them.  
Wendy nodded.  
"Yeah, news spreads quickly in a small town like this, and they thought it would be a good idea to, I don't know, cheer you little dudes up" she told them.  
They were pretty glad to hear this, and were excited at the prospect of hanging out with teenagers. If it would be like the night at the convenience store (before all the crazy stuff), they were all for it.  
Except…  
"…aren't they angry on what happened to you and Robbie?" Mabel asked, but then put her hands over her mouth, regretting what she said.  
Wendy shrugged.  
"We've been hanging around long before we all even knew Robbie. When he and I broke up, my friends all joined my side on the issue." she explained to them.  
"So; you guys wanna come, or not?" she asked.  
They only had one answer…

"It's fine with me, just don't stay out to late, and keep your phones with you" Stan told them.  
Dipper and Mabel had just asked him permission, because, while they had said 'yes' to Wendy, they knew they'd need his approval.  
"Sweet!" Wendy said, as she had been listening in from the gift shop.  
"And don't worry; I'll keep a close eye on 'em Mr. Pines" she told him.  
He nodded at her from his chair.  
"I expect you to keep that promise," he nearly ordered her, pointing "don't let your friends distract you!"  
Wendy nodded, but then turned and rolled her eyes.  
"Yeesh, so strict…" she said.  
She looked down at Dipper and Mabel.  
"Seriously guys, he's changed just a BIT to much in these past few days…" she half-complained/half-kidded.

The van came around the corner as Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel all chilled in Wendy's 'hide-out' on top of the roof. Once they saw it, Wendy slid her usual way down the trees, Mabel wanting to follow, but Dipper, being the cautionary guy he was, advised against it, and they went down the ladder Dipper had put up earlier.  
"Good thing Grunkle Stan got over his fear of heights" Mabel said as she came down.  
"Don't YOU have a fear of heights now Mabel?" Dipper asked.  
Mabel looked up the ladder and then shuddered a bit.  
"Oh yeah, remind me of that, why don't you!" she said, shoving her brother.  
They both caught up with Wendy and found all her friends in the van; Lee, Nate, Tambry, and Thompson, who was at the wheel.  
"Ah, yeah, Dr. Fun Times and…" Lee started, poking his head out the window once he saw Dipper and Mabel, but frowned a bit.  
"Aw, shoot, we never gave the girl a nickname…" he said to his friends.  
"It's Mabel" Wendy reminded him.  
Lee's eyes lit up.  
"Oh, yeah that'll work!" he said with a grin.  
Wendy smacked him on the side of the head.  
"No, genius, that's her real name!" she told him, rolling her eyes.  
"Is that the sweater-girl's name?" Tambry asked vaguely from behind her phone, as she was only half-listening.  
Lee smiled again after hearing that.  
"Hey, that'll work!" he said aloud.  
He stuck his arms out.  
"Dr. Fun Times and Sweater Girl!" he said, and he high-fived them both.  
He pulled the hand Mabel had high-fived back a bit.  
"Ow…" he said, shaking it a bit.  
Dipper laughed.  
"Yeah, she high-five's pretty hard…" he told the blonde teen.  
Nate punched him lightly on the shoulder.  
"Heh, you got hurt by a 12 year old, weakling!" he told him.  
Lee turned around and punched his friend on the same shoulder.  
"Your mom's a weakling" he said, as was his usual come-back.  
Nate laughed again, and Lee opened the door, stepping out and letting Dipper and Mabel in while Wendy rode shot-gun.  
"So, where're we heading guys?" Dipper asked as he and Mabel buckled up (seeming to be the only ones doing so.)  
"My place" Wendy said "my dad and my brothers are gonna be out for most of the night, and my dad said it was fine if we were there, just the seven of us."  
"Yeah, especially since we don't hang out with Robbie anymore" Thompson said.  
"THOMPSON!" all the teens, aside from Wendy, yelled at him, making him flinch.  
All eyes fell on Wendy.  
"Sorry about that" Thompson said to Wendy.  
Wendy turned around slightly.  
"Guys, it's alright, I'm fine." she told them "Besides, you all know why it happened. If anything, I'm happy Thompson brought it up."  
She buckled up.  
"So, are we going or not?" she said to Thompson, lightly punching him on the shoulder.  
He smiled.  
"Let's get going!" he said, and put the pedal to the metal, speeding off.  
And at that, all the teenagers began chanting his name, punching the roof, and Thompson actually didn't seem to be annoyed at this for once.  
"THOMP-SON! THOMP-SON! THOMP-SON!" they chanted as they went down the dirt rode away from the shack.  
At this, Nate glanced back at Dipper and Mabel in the very back seats.  
"Why aren't you two in on this?" he asked.  
"Yeah, why're you so quiet?" Nate asked.  
Dipper looked up at the roof.  
"Well, we can't reach…" he said "and I feel like we're kinda sticking out."  
"Same here," Mabel agreed "it's a twin thing."  
Nate cocked an eye-brow.  
"Guys, we're doing this for you, don't you realize that?" he asked.  
"Heck, it was Tambry who came up with this idea!" Lee said.  
Tambry raised a hand up from her phone, continuing to text with her other hand.  
"Uh-huh…" she said faintly.  
Lee put a hand to the side of his mouth.  
"Don't let this fool you; she actually does care…" he told them, not bothering to whisper, so Tambry noticed this.  
"I can hear you…" Tambry said "Status update; putting a hand to the side of your mouth DOESN'T make anything you say private!"  
Everyone in the van laughed at Lee's expense. Even Lee laughed, not seeming to care.  
"Well we know about that; Wendy showed us that thing she made on Facebook-" Dipper responded, getting back on topic.  
"You're welcome" Tambry butted in, still texting.

"Seriously, though, you guys shouldn't feel so awkward about this" Wendy said back to them from the front "this is all for you."  
Both Dipper and Mabel smiled at that.  
"Well, thanks guys…" Dipper said, rubbing the back of his neck.  
"I can't believe you're all being so sympathetic" Mabel said to them.  
They all laughed again at that.  
"Heck, this group basically runs on sympathy" Lee said "and with what you guys are going through, you do deserve to be shown a good time."  
He glanced up at the front.  
"You know; sympathy is basically how Thompson got in the group."  
Both Dipper and Mabel had questionable looks, wanting an explanation.  
"Ok, so" Lee started "we all had ordered, in advance, these tickets to a Heavy Metal concert outside of town, and this was before we knew Thompson."  
"But we accidentally got an extra one, and, while Robbie wanted to scalp it at the concert" Nate said, rolling his eyes "an issue came and hit us hard."  
"No one was able to give us a ride" Wendy said "all our parents were busy, and while we told them MONTHS in advance, they all forgot."  
She scoffed and rolled her eyes.  
"Thompson was new to the school and had a hard time making friends, and he walked by us, hearing all of us complaining, and he dropped all his books-"  
"Because Lee tripped him!" Nate said, nudging him.  
"Did not!" Lee rebutted, nudging him back "you did!"  
"So, while we all helped him, he asked us why we needed a ride, and where" Wendy continued, ignoring Lee and Nate's friendly bickering.  
Thompson finally spoke up.  
"I already had my license and I said we could use my mom's van, so long as they let me have the extra ticket, and they were all totally cool with it." he said to the twins.  
"Thompson was a miracle that night" Tambry said, still texting.  
"And ever since then, he's been our ride everywhere, no matter what." Wendy said, playfully punching him on the shoulder again.  
"Thanks" he said, blushing a bit as he focused on the road.  
Wendy glanced back at everyone.  
"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.  
They all smiled and at that, and everyone, including Dipper and Mabel, began the chant.  
"THOMP-SON! THOMP-SON! THOMP-SON!" they all chanted pumping their fists, the teens hitting the roof.  
Lee looked back at the twins again.  
"And heck, we are going this because we feel kinda sorry for you both," he said "but really, we're all just off to have fun."  
"And no place in town is more fun than Wendy's place!" Nate said.  
"Why's that?" Mabel asked.  
The van stopped and parked.  
"See for yourself." Wendy told them, as they all unbuckled and the doors opened.  
They all got out and both Dipper and Mabel's jaws dropped; in front of them was a log cabin, like the mystery shack, but much larger, and a bit more secluded in the woods.  
Wendy shrugged.  
"My mom was a successful business woman in my dad's lumber business when she was alive," Wendy said to the twin "and she was able to have this place erected with all the trees my dad and his work buddies had chopped down when all my brothers started coming around."  
"She saved A LOT of money she earned and well…" she stretched out.  
She walked up to the front door and opened it up with her key.  
"Come in and see for yourself what my dad's done with just a little tiny bit of that money." she said to them and walked in, all her friends behind her.  
Dipper and Mabel followed and their jaws dropped again.

They all walked inside and were in a huge kitchen, attached to which was an even larger living room. There was a hallway that led to another part of the house, and a staircase that led upstairs.  
"So yeah, my brothers and I each have our own rooms" Wendy told them.  
"Mine's upstairs next to my dad's," Wendy said, pointing above them "and my youngest brother's room is across the hall from ours."  
She pointed down the hallway "and my other two brothers each have a room down here, across from the den."  
She looked back at Dipper and Mabel.  
"So yeah, whatever you guys want to do, feel free; we got everything; video games, TV, snacks, soda, whatever, go nuts."  
And before Dipper and Mabel could react, her friends complied with that. Mabel looked down the hall, where the guys had headed.  
"I'm gonna go look around, catch'ya later bro!" she said, and dashed down the hall, leaving Dipper and Wendy alone in the kitchen.

While Mabel had challenged the guys to a video game tournament, and Tambry went on Wendy's laptop, Wendy got her and Dipper each a soda.  
They sat at the table in silence, until Wendy finally broke it.  
"So, Dipper, you want me to show you around?" she asked.  
Dipper set his drink down.

"Uh, sure…" he said, still nervous about him and Wendy being alone.  
They left the kitchen and head upstairs.  
"I wanna show you something I think might help a little more" Wendy explained.  
The aura in the air made Dipper feel like they were flashing back to their moment on the roof. He could already tell by the smile on Wendy's face that her nurturing, caring side was showing again.  
They made it upstairs and in the hall, ahead of two doors, was a wall of pictures.  
Dipper looked up at them and saw all sorts of pictures of Wendy and her family; school photos, holidays, birthday parties.  
Wendy reached for one photo that was in the center of it all; it was of her at a much younger age, before she got her braces, with two of her brother's at her sides, and her dad in the center of the picture with his big burly arm around a healthily thin woman a foot shorter than him with brown hair in a tight bun and thin glasses, in her arms was a small baby with wisps of red hair. In the background was their cabin home.  
Wendy smiled a bit at this, a few tears in her eyes. Dipper hated to do it, but he broke the silence that had befallen them, again.  
"So… is that your mom?" he asked, pointing at the woman in the picture.  
Wendy broke out of her trance.  
"Huh?" she said, looking at him.  
She crouched down, leaning against the wall.  
"Oh yeah, that's her" she said, placing her finger lightly against the glass that protected the picture.  
"This was a little bit after my littlest bro was born, and we moved in here." she told Dipper "Before that, we lived in a small apartment up-town. My parents had one room and me and my bros had the other."  
"My parents made plenty of money, just, not enough to get a better place. Houses are really rare here, and so, you only have 3 choices here if you can't get house; live in an apartment, move out of town, or make your own house."  
"My parents went for the last, and most expensive, choice" Wendy went on.  
"My dad took out a huge loan from the bank, and he and all his lumberjack buddies began cutting down trees and were assigned a new project. My dad used the loan to by a spot of land just a little bit outta town, and my mom looked over all the business affairs."  
She smiled again.  
"Even while she was pregnant with my littlest brother, she still kept at it, and finally our parents showed me and my other two brothers what they had been hiding from us, as they didn't wanna spoil the surprise while they were building it."  
"This house was almost finished, they just had to finish off a few more things; putting in windows, setting up a plumbing system, getting an electrical line to come here, and making a path to lead from the town to here."  
"Only a little bit after my littlest brother was born did we move here." Wendy said "it was just such a shock to get my own room and my own space. It actually kinda freaked me out, ya know?"  
She looked down at Dipper, who nodded, knowing exactly how it felt.  
"Unfortunately, my mom had been hiding from all of us, aside from my dad, that she was sick. Really sick. She had developed a tumor while she was pregnant with my brother, and she didn't get any of the treatments because she was worried it would hurt him. And after he was born it was to late."  
"My mom died a few months after we moved in here. It was really hard on all of us, and, to this day, my youngest brother STILL blames himself."  
Wendy looked like she believed herself to be somewhere different, almost as if she was talking to herself and forgot Dipper was even there.  
"My dad and I keep telling him to stop doing that, and that it isn't his fault, but no matter how many times he seems to get over it, it comes crawling back to him…"  
Dipper spoke up to get Wendy out of her trance.  
"It's probably survivor's guilt" he said to her.  
Wendy snapped out of her trance. She looked back down at Dipper again.  
"Yeah, you're probably right." she said.  
She set the picture at her side and looked at Dipper with all her attention.  
"You know Dipper, there's something about my parents that I haven't told you" she said to him, scooting a bit closer.  
Dipper started sweating nervously, his stomach feeling as if it was doing somersaults.  
"Well, uh, wh-what is that?" he asked, wanting to scoot away, but his legs had gone numb.  
Wendy smiled, as she got up on her knees and faced him.  
"My parents, like us, were three years apart in age. My dad was younger than my mom…" she told him, a slight blush coming across her cheeks.  
And, at that, to Dipper's complete and utter surprise, she leaned right down and kissed him tenderly on the lips. Dipper's eye's widened as their lips connected, but he slowly closed them as the kiss deepened. He could feel Wendy's tears fall onto his face, but he didn't care.  
When Wendy finally pulled back, the reality of the situation sinking in, they both just didn't know what to say.  
"I'm, uh, gonna head downstairs…" Dipper said to Wendy, pointing at the end of the hallway.  
Wendy nodded.  
"Um, okay, cool" she said to him, tears still dripping a bit from her eyes.  
She sat back down, looking at the picture again.

"AW, HECK NO! AGAIN?!" Lee said, as he slammed the game controller down.  
"Seriously, she doesn't even know how to play it!" Nate said, laughing a bit.  
Mabel and Lee has just been in a head-to-head stage battle on Brütal Legend, and Mabel had just won for the fifth time, never having even played before.  
"Switch it up dude, use the Drowning Doom against her, not Ironheade or the Tainted Coil." Thompson suggested "Fight fire with fire!"  
"I already tried fire, that's the Tainted Coil's biggest weakness, and it STILL didn't work" Lee complained, not getting what Thompson meant.  
"How'd you even know to pick that team, Sweater-Girl?" Tambry asked, glancing away from the computer screen for a second.  
Mabel shrugged.  
"I just picked it because I thought Ophelia's make-up was pretty.  
All the guys rolled their eyes.  
"And yet, you can't win at a game of chess" a new voice said.  
They all looked over and saw Dipper entering the den.  
"DR. FUN-TIMES!" Lee and Nate said, both holding out hands.  
Dipper high-fived both of them and sat next to Mabel.  
He looked over the game manual.  
"So this is some kinda RTS game and Mabel keeps winning?" he asked.  
Lee glared.  
"Yeah, and she doesn't even know what the heck she's doing!" he groaned out.  
Dipper rolled his eyes.  
"Somehow, that's how my sisters wins a lot of games; diving in headfirst with no instructions whatsoever." he explained.  
"Beginner's luck" Lee said.  
Nate punched him on the shoulder.  
"Don't be a sore loser!" he said to Lee.  
Lee punched Nate back on the shoulder.  
"Your mom's a sore loser!" he shot back.  
"Status update; I didn't even have to bet that Nate and Lee would find a way to throw in a 'Your mom' joke at all" Tambry said, typing on the computer, making the whole room erupt in a roar of laughter.  
Mabel set her controller down.  
"Well, I'm bored. I'm gonna get a soda" she said, hopping off the couch.  
"C'mon Dipper" she said to him, and he followed after her a bit curiously, but complied.  
"Sweater-girl probably needs Dr. Fun-times to get on her shoulder's to reach the sodas" Lee said with a smirk.  
"Sore-Lo-ser!" Nate mocked in a sing-song voice.  
Lee put Nate into a head lock and shoved him onto the couch.  
"That's it; you, me, head-to-head Stage battle, right now!" He said, pointing at the TV, trying not to sound aggressive, but still did.

Dipper followed Mabel into the kitchen, and instead of going to the fridge for a soda, she instantly turned around, a bit of a giddy smile on her face.  
"So…" she said, as if she knew something.  
"So…?" Dipper said back curiously.  
Mabel moved a bit closer.  
"What happened with you and Wendy?" she asked giddily.  
A huge blush came across Dipper's face.  
"What?! Uh-Um, nothing, nothing at all!" He said quickly.  
"Why would anything go on between us?" He asked.  
"Nothing would, that's why!" he answered his own fake question.  
Mabel put her hands on her waist and shook her head. She tapped her head.  
"Twin-telepathy bro-bro; I can tell that something went on between you two!" she said "You guys weren't in there with us, so you had to be off somewhere else."  
"So don't lie to me; what happened?" she asked in an authorative tone.  
Dipper tilted his head down. He didn't want to lie to Mabel, so he decided to come clean, especially since they were alone.  
"Shkssdm…" he mumbled.  
Mabel put a hand to the side of her ear.  
"Uh, say wha'?" she asked, still smirking.  
"Wkssd…" Dipper mumbled.  
Mabel shoved him.  
"Speak English broseph!" she said.  
Dipper groaned.  
"She kissed me, okay?! We kissed!" he proclaimed to her.  
Mabel's face lit up like a Christmas tree. She wrapped her arms around his neck.  
"AW, my brother got his first kiss!" she said, then also pointed out…  
"And from the girl he LO-OVES!" she said in a sing-song voice.  
Dipper shoved her off.  
"Gah, Mabel, quit doing that, you know I can't breath when you do that!" he said, blushing as red as a tomato in embarrassment and anger.  
Mabel ignored this and began poking him playfully.  
"Okay, so; how was it? Did'ja get to first?" she asked.  
Dipper cocked his eyebrow.  
"Do you even know what that means, Mabel?" he asked her, already knowing the answer.  
Mabel looked up at the ceiling stretching out an "uh…"  
She looked back at him with a smile.  
"Nope!" she said, still smiling.  
She poked him again.  
"But, what was it like?" she insisted an answer out of him "C'mon, tell me!"  
Dipper groaned sadly, leaning against the wall of the kitchen near the fridge.  
"Well, Mabel, it was good, it felt great, but…" he let the subject drop.  
Mabel tilted her head, her giddy feeling leaving.  
"But?" she asked "What 'but' bro?"  
Dipper shrugged, looking back up at her.  
"It was just really awkward, she was talking about her mom, and then she brought up how her parent's are three years apart like us, and before I knew it, she kissed me." he explained "I didn't know what to say, so I just well 'fled the scene'."  
Mabel sighed, and leaned next to him. She put her arm over him.  
"Well bro, maybe this whole issue's getting to her, and bringing up some old memories" she told him.  
Dipper buried his face in his hands.  
"Why can't girls come with instruction manuals?" he asked.  
He realized what he just said and immediately looked up at Mabel. She just shrugged, not even needing an apology.

"Look, Dip; we girls do work in mysterious ways. Some of us can talk for hours to cope with our problems, and some of us use our lips for other ways to cope with them." she told him "And some of us do different things entirely."  
Again Dipper didn't give Mabel for her intelligence. While she didn't get how guys worked, and she was far from being an 'average' teenage girl, she knew how they were, and would always be there to help Dipper, now that these problems were arising. They stood there for a bit, thinking things over. As Dipper thought it over, he began to speak aloud, beginning to realize what was happening.  
"I guess…" he started "she's just sad about what happened to us…"  
"Well, everyone is" Mabel said "I think some are even more sad then we are."  
Dipper shook his head.  
"Impossible Mabel." he rebutted "They may not know what it's like to lose a parent."  
He looked up the stairs, thinking aloud in realization again.  
"But Wendy does… and this situation has, well, awoken all those feelings with her mom again and she can't handle all this sadness and depression." he thought aloud "So her only solution was to just take a shot to try and cheer me up, thinking it could help her out, too."  
Mabel put her hand on his shoulder.  
"Did it?" she asked.  
Dipper shrugged.  
"It feels great to finally kiss her, I thought it would never happen, but now I just feel so conflicted!" he said, covering his eyes.  
Mabel just patted him on the back.  
"It'll be alright Dip, things'll work out" she said, not knowing if she was lying or telling the truth, but hoping for the latter.  
Then she looked up the stairs.  
"Just go talk to her though." Mabel said, pointing up the stairs "just saying how weird it felt to me won't help. Just go talk to her."  
Dipper froze, then slowly turned his head to Mabel.  
"B-but, I just CAN'T Mabel!" he said in desperation.  
Mabel tilted her head.  
"Why?" she asked.  
Dipper covered his eyes again.  
"Ugh! I can't explain WHY I can't, but I just CAN'T talk to her about it" he said, but then looked up.  
"At least… not yet…" he added.  
Mabel rolled her eyes.  
"Then go to her and talk about something else to throw her mind off of it" she said shoving him.  
He went up the first step nervously and looked back at his sister.  
Mabel walked forward and pushed him again.  
"Just to it and stop acting so cray-cray, bro!" she said.  
Diper took a deep breath and trudged up the stairs. He looked back and realized Mabel wasn't behind him, so he took it slower.  
Once he came across the spot in the hall he and Wendy had been at, he saw that she wasn't there anymore. He then looked up at the wall and saw that the picture of Wendy and her family was still missing. He looked down the hall and saw that one door was opened a crack, a light shining out of it. From inside, he could hear sniffling. He walked toward it. He tried to knock on the door, but the first knock made it open up more.  
He could see Wendy in there, and knew this was her room; it was covered wall to wall in posters, mostly of bands. The was a desk, a bed that could be converted into a sofa, which was right near a window she could look out at. There was a small bed-side table on the edge with an alarm clock and another picture of Wendy and her brothers, and her dad, but not her mom. This one was more current, as it looked just like the Wendy he knew.  
But, the Wendy he was seeing now, was different; she looked completely miserable, sitting on her bed, looking at the picture from the hall in her hands. She was crying, and the only reason that she didn't look even more miserable was because she didn't wear much make-up, so no mascara or eye-liner was running.  
But as he stood there, he realized that Wendy hadn't noticed him. He stepped forward, and his first step on the wooden floor, making it creak, got her attention.  
She instantly looked up from her picture. She looked at him in shock, and set the picture down.  
"Oh, Dipper!" she said, and then tried to hide her tears, failing at it, so she looked away.  
She wiped her tears away and looked back at him.  
"L-look, about earlier…" she started "I was just full of so much sadness and depression of what happened with me and my mom, and thought I was being selfish because this night is about you and Mabel, not me, and then knowing that you guys are going through so much."  
Wendy was on a role now.  
"And, of course, thinking about what happened with Robbie and me, I couldn't get over all of this, so, I just…"  
She couldn't finish, and sat back down, after pacing back and forth, and she started crying again, burying her face into her hands.  
Dipper sighed, walked over and sat next to her. He reached up and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up, and as the blur of tears cleared from her eyes, she could see Dipper smiling a bit sadly at her.  
"Look, Wendy" he said "I know that well, you're going through a lot what with what's happened, and all these memories coming back to you, but…"  
He didn't know what to say, so he just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.  
"Just try and ignore it for a bit."  
Wendy's eye-brows raised.  
"Huh?" she asked, not sounding offended, just confused.  
Dipper thought she was offended though and immediately got off her bed, backing up from her a bit.  
"L-look, it's just that, well, uh, everyone downstairs are all having a great time, and I think that well, um, we could join them, you know, it's helping Mabel, so maybe it could help you and me."  
Wendy had stood up while he said this, and Dipper realized he had back up into her wall, his hands up in defense. He put his hands up over his head in protection, thinking that he had infuriated the girl he loved, and was afraid of how she'd react. He saw her raise her fist, and he closed his eyes tightly, awaiting the pain of her striking him.  
But, all he felt was a slight nudge on his shoulder.  
He opened his eyes, looked up, and saw that Wendy was down on one knee, and had gently nudged him on the shoulder with her fist. She had on the same smile he usually saw on her.  
"Chill out, Dipper" she said, knowing how scared he had just been.  
She stood back up, pulling him up onto his feet, too.  
"You know, you're right; we should just go back downstairs and join everyone else." she said to him.  
Her tears had all dried, and she was feeling much better than she had been feeling only a few minutes earlier.  
One thing hadn't been mentioned in this whole fiasco though, the one thing that still confused Dipper; the kiss. But, seeing the smile on Wendy's face, he was happy that it hadn't been brought up.  
"We'll just talk about it some other time" Dipper silently said to himself, knowing that, while he wouldn't want to, it would inevitably happen.

They both went downstairs and immediately joined the mini-party that was going on with Wendy's friends.  
Dipper took a seat next to his sister on the couch, cheering her on as she continued beating everyone in the different head-to-head battles, still having no clue what she was doing.  
As she played, she glanced at Dipper.  
"So, things are okay now?" she asked, looking over at Wendy, who was laughing with her friends, and clinking cans together.  
Dipper, shrugged a bit.  
"Better, not perfect, but better" he told her.  
Mabel sighed.  
"Things are never perfect" she told him, and let it drop.  
And the party continued on.

Later on, in the night, as it got later, and everyone got tired, knowing that they couldn't stay for much longer, Wendy got out the last soda's of the night.  
"Alright guys" she said, getting them all to settle down, handing each one of them a soda.  
"Well, guys, this has been fun, but, like all fun times, we gotta stop now and go home" she said.  
They all groaned.  
Wendy lifted her soda up.  
"But I wanna say one final thing" she said.  
She looked over at Dipper and Mabel, who were sitting at the table.  
"A toast to, I hope, the newest member's of this ragtag group; Dipper and Mabel!"  
No discussions had to happen over this. Everyone else raised their drinks and clinked them all together, cheering. Even Dipper and Mabel had stood up in their chairs so they could reach. They all chugged the soda's down, and at that, the party ended, and they all left.  
"Mind giving the twins a lift back home, Thompson?" Wendy asked him.  
He covered his mouth, suppressing a burp from drinking the whole can of soda. But then he nodded.  
The whole group high-fived them as they left, congratulating them on joining the group.  
As they left, Mabel put her arm around Dipper.  
"Well Dip, I think thing are gonna get even better, now, maybe even making it perfect." she said happily.  
Dipper smiled sadly again.  
"Not perfect, Mabel, but pretty close" he said to her.  
She nodded and they both put their arms over each other.


	4. Chapter 4

Today was the day of the funeral. Stan had pre-ordered a suit, which a bit like his, just missing the fez, for Dipper to wear. He wouldn't let Dipper wear his hat, as he believed it to not to be necessary. But he at least allowed him to keep his hair styled so his birthmark was still concealed.  
Stan had also gotten Mabel a simple black dress and flat shoes, as she couldn't even wear heels that were 1/4th of an inch of the ground without falling every two seconds. Mabel had wanted to wear a black sweater she had knitted, but Stan believed it to be unnecessary, just like Dipper's hat.  
Soos had shown up in a simple 3 piece suit to give the Pine's family a ride to the lake-side, where the funeral was being held. Dipper and Mabel rode in the back while Stan rode shot-gun and Soos drove. Unlike when fishing season opened, Soos was able to make it to the lake-side quicker than Stan had done, and when they made it, they discovered that basically the whole town had turned out for this.  
"Woah, holy smokes!" Stan said as Soos parked in a reserved space near the docks "there's more people here than there was at the Mystery Fair!"  
He began to sweat nervously.  
"I don't know if I can get enough catering for the repast for all these people!" he said aloud.  
"The what?" Mabel said, tilting her head to the side and squinting one of her eyes in confusion.  
"It's the name of a dinner or lunch held after a Funeral, Mabel, in this case, being a lunch." Dipper explained to her.  
"No need for that" Someone said, getting their attention.  
Stan, Soos, Dipper and Mabel all looked up and saw Ranger McGucket, who's fellow rangers were keeping control over the crowd.  
"The repast is being held at Greasy's Diner after both bodies have been put in the ground and buried." he explained to them "tables are being set up in the parking lot of the diner from such a turnout."  
"The life insurance policy has paid for this, and everything has been taken care of."  
He set a hand on Stan's shoulder.  
"Don't worry about anything," he said "everything will be fine."  
Stan nodded solemnly with his eyes closed.  
"Well, uh, thanks. It's good to know that everything's taken care of, then" Stan replied.  
Ranger McGucket nodded back and went back to keeping the crowd under control with his fellow rangers.  
They left the parking lot and saw towards the edge of the lake was an area with rows of chairs near two grave-sites that had been set up. What saddened them the most though, was that the two caskets were already set up to be lowered in.  
Stan put a hand on each of the twins shoulders.  
"Come on kids" he said sadly "let's go."  
They walked the distance of the lake-side edge, Soos following suit, noticing what a beautiful day was happening around them, at least helping cheer up, seeing the sun shine and reflect off of the lake, not a cloud in the sky.  
They finally made it over, as the trudging walk made their legs feel like lead. They were scared of seeing what was in the caskets from what they had heard about the eighteen-wheeler crash/car accident. But when they finally made it, as they looked in, both their parents looked as if they were simply asleep. Not a cut or a mark on them. The morticians had done a great job on them. Soos stated this aloud, apologizing the next second for bringing it up on such a sad issue.  
"It's okay you big lug," Stan told him "might as well not ignore it anymore; it's happening and we can't avoid it any longer."  
At this though, Mabel broke down crying, the reality of the entire situation finally settling in. Before the day was out, both she and Dipper were going to see their parents be put in the ground. She fell to her knees and put a hand on each of the coffins, clutching so hard that her knuckles turned white.  
Dipper got down on his knees and put his arms around her from a sideways position.  
"M-mabel, I-it's okay…" he said reassuringly, trying to comfort her, even though he felt that he himself was lying.  
Mabel looked at him, and when he saw the tears in her eyes, tears welled up in his eyes as well, and he began crying with her. On their knees, they both put their arms around each other and cried into their sibling's shoulder. Their great-uncle got down on his knees as well, and put his arms around the both of them. He didn't cry himself, but comforted the kids. Like Wendy had stated on what was unbelievably only a week ago, whereas it felt like a lifetime ago, their whole world was crumbling apart before them at this moment, and they didn't know what to do at all, but cry.  
Sobs and moans of sadness escaped them as the twins continued crying, Stan holding them tightly, trying to comfort them, feeling as if he was failing, coming close to tears himself. Soos put a hand on his shoulder, which made Stan look up. Soos nodded, and Stan nodded back, and Stan finally let a few tears escape.  
Dipper and Mabel had stopped sobbing enough to hear sniffling, and they both looked up, their eyes clearing up enough to see, and they saw their Grunkle Stan crying, and at seeing this, they let go of each other and then, as he had wanted to do when he first gave them the news, they finally returned the hug he had wanted to give them a week ago. Stan flinched in surprise at this, but when he wiped the tears from his eyes, he saw both his great-niece and great-nephew hugging him. He smiled warmly and put his arms back around them again, smiling warmly. This simple gesture seemed to cheer all three of them up, and they were all finally able to smile.  
While two very important people in all three of their lives were gone forever, they still had each other. And for them, that was enough.  
After a few minutes, they all broke the group hug, and left the caskets, ready to let this funeral pass.

The crowd was led along the beach side into the funeral area, which was blocked off by barriers of cones and tape, and into the chairs. Stan, Mabel, and Dipper all stood near the entrance, the people walking in paying their condolences and apologizing for their loss. These were given by everyone; Soos apologized once more before he went and took his seat, Wendy's friends and her brothers apologized as they arrived, most of them high-fiving Dipper or patting him on the back, as well as hugging Mabel and shaking Stan's hands, Candy and Grenda apologized as they both hugged Mabel, Toby Determined came by and shared his apologies, saying that he was not here to take pictures, just to report for the obituary, Old Man McGucket arrived dressed neatly, being kept calm by his son, Lazy Susan apologized for their loss and even kissed Stan on the cheek, making him blush. Sheriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland arrived last, as they had been the ones keeping the whole crowd under control. It seems the only people who hadn't shown up were Gideon or his parents, Wendy and her Dad, as well as Robbie, Pacifica, and the Northwest family. A few of these people though, were about to show up.  
As almost all the seats were full, someone around Dipper and Mabel's size, who's face was hidden by a fedora hat and body was hidden by a trench coat approached Mabel. This person removed their hat and revealed herself to be Pacifica!  
At first, Stan and Dipper both glared when they saw here, and Mabel had a mixture of anger and sadness on her face. The look on Pacifica's face was what kept them from ordering her away; she looked as if she had been crying, a lot, and her whole body just glowed with downright misery. Pacifica looked up, her hat in her hands as she looked at Mabel, she finally said something.  
"I'm really sorry, Mabel…" was all she could get out.  
Mabel seemed to want to smile, but she just couldn't bring herself to when she saw the looks on Stan and Dipper's faces; what Pacifica had said just wasn't enough.  
Pacifica looked at Mabel even more, continuing with her apology.  
"For everything; treating you like dirt the second we met, cheating you out of the party crown, embarrassing you in front of the pioneer day crowd, insulting you at the mystery fair, everything!"  
She threw her hat down and dropped to her knees. She started to cry.  
"I'm especially sorry that I insulted your parents so horribly last week. It was the most wrong thing anyone could ever do, and should never do!"  
"I deserved everything dished out onto me."  
As all three of the Pines' saw her in this state, and heard the miserable tone of her voice, Dipper and Stan both nodded as Mabel looked up at them from looking down at Pacifica. Mabel nodded back and then looked back at the crying blonde at her feet. She set a hand on Pacifica's shoulder, which got her to look up. Mabel smiled at her.  
"I forgive you." she told Pacifica "For everything."  
Stan stood behind Mabel.  
"As do I" he said.  
Dipper stood at his twin-sister's side.  
"Same here" he agreed.  
Pacifica stood up and put her arms around Mabel in a hug, seeming to still be crying. Mabel flinched at first, but her smile returned and she hugged Pacifica back.  
"It's okay, Pacifica, everything's alright…" she said soothingly, patting the former queen bee on the back.  
Pacifica stopped crying for a minute.  
"Th-thank you…" she managed to say to Mabel.  
Mabel patted her back once more and then pulled back so they could look at each other.  
"Would you like to sit with me and my friends?" she asked Pacifica.  
Pacifica finally smiled a bit.  
"I would like that…" she replied, wiping a few of her tears away.  
Mabel took her hand and led her in.  
Dipper and Stan watched them both walk in and take a seat in the front row of chairs that were set up near the caskets, which had spots reserved for Stan, Dipper, and Mabel.  
"Now there's something you don't see everyday" Stan said, nodding a bit.  
Dipper nodded as well.  
"I know, Grunkle Stan, I know…" he said, as he saw Candy and Grenda first show aggression at seeing Pacifica, which made Pacifica shrink back in fearm to which Mabel talked to them, both of Dipper and Stan being unaware of what she said. But they decided not to care, as it seemed to help Candy and Grenda calm down and they let Pacifica sit with them, her at Mabel's left side and Grenda and Candy at Mabel's right side.  
Stan and Dipper heard something else that got their attention and saw Wendy arriving, along with her dad, Manly Dan, who was wearing something unlike his usual lumberjack outfit; a suit that actually blocked his hairy arms and chest, and no protective gloves that were used to handle freshly cut wood. His face was buried in his hands as Wendy led him to the area, with both of her arms around his big arm. She was wearing something different as well; a simple black dress and black flat heels, her hat being gone, allowing her hair to flow out more.  
Once they approached, Stan stepped aside. Dipper looked up at him as he did this.  
"I think you two have something to work out for a bit" he said to Dipper.  
Dipper's eyebrows raised and his jaw dropped in pure confusion.  
"How did you-" he started to say, but Stan cut him off.  
"I know how you feel about her, champ. I know." he simply replied.  
Stan walked in to take his seats at the front, Candy and Grenda moving aside so he could sit next to Mabel. Manly Dan went in and took a seat with his boys. He stated before he went in, though, that he wasn't crying; he was 'sweating through his eyes!' as 'men don't cry!'. Wendy rolled her eyes at him saying this, and stayed behind with Dipper.  
"He's always like that" she explained "he cries at things like this all the time and won't let anyone talk about it. He may act mean, but he's just a big softy, a Gentle Giant really..."  
Dipper nodded, and then they both looked in. There was two seats left; one at the front row reserved for Dipper next to Stan, and one behind his reserved seat. But neither Dipper or Wendy could go in just yet. The pastor from the church wasn't there yet, so they had some time, and they both chilled at the entrance. They just couldn't think of anything to say, though.  
After what felt like an eternity, Wendy finally spoke up, breaking the silence.  
"The big day, huh?" she asked.  
Dipper nodded.  
"Unfortunately…" was all he could say as a reply.  
Wendy put a hand on his shoulder.  
"I get that this is really hurting." she said to him, not needing to explain herself, as she had done enough during the past week.  
A few tears came to her eyes, and she looked away. Dipper was about to ask what was wrong, but he already had a feeling of what it was. Wendy almost read his mind, knowing what he was going to ask. And his suspicions were right.  
"L-look Dipper…" she started "what happened between us… I was just so full of emotions, what with my break-up with Robbie, and what happened to you and Mabel, and remembering what happened to my family, that I just couldn't think of anything."  
She looked down at him again.  
"I get how you feel about me" she said, making Dipper step back in surprise.  
"R-really?" he asked.  
Wendy nodded.  
"And that's why I did it; I could tell you needed something to cheer yourself up, and I thought it would help me, too."  
She blushed.  
"And, well, it kinda did…"  
Her smiled faded after saying this. Dipper spoke up at this.  
"Then, why did you-" he started, but, just like what had happened earlier, his question was cut short.  
"Because we're to far apart Dipper!" she snapped in anger.  
Seeing Dipper jump back in fear, Wendy calmed down.  
"But, well… if we were both just a little bit older, like my parents were, maybe it wouldn't matter."  
She covered her eyes tightly in frustration.  
"I just wish it didn't!"  
Wendy started crying again at this. Dipper did something that made her stop though; once Wendy put one of her hands down, drying her eyes with the other one, Dipper took a hold of her hand. Wendy stopped crying enough to look down and saw Dipper smiling up at her.  
"Wendy…" he started, but looking into her eyes, shining from her tears, he was cut short once more.  
At this though, Wendy nodded, indicating him to go on. He indicated her to get lower with his free hand, and she got down on one knee to look at him at eye-level.  
"I… I wish it didn't matter, too," he said "our age difference, that is… but…"  
He stopped again, and looked down at the ground. Wendy put a hand under his chin and had him look up again.  
"But…" she said, wanting him to continue.  
He took a deep breathe, and let it out.  
"But…"  
He looked her in the eyes.  
"…I can wait, if you can wait" he finally finished with a smile.  
"Deal?" he asked.  
Wendy smiled back.  
"Deal" she replied, and then, once more, she kissed him tenderly and gently on the lips. She stood up and then walked in, joining her dad and her brothers, who were seated right behind Stan and Mabel, one empty seat left in front of Wendy. Dipper took a deep breathe and finally walked in, joining his sister and his Great-Uncle.

The Pastor finally showed up and the funeral was put under way. Many prayers were said and birthdates of both parents were said, as to how they met, where they were married, and how young they were all were stated. The pastor stated that it was not up to them on how it happened and that it couldn't be changed, and that god wanted them to come and he worked in mysterious ways. It was also stated how they were succeeded by Stan as well as their two children, Roderick and Mabel Pines. Stan put his arms over the kids and hugged them close as Mabel dabbed at her eyes with a tissue Pacifica gave her, and Dipper kept his head down so he could hide his eyes, not wanting people in public to see that he was 'sweating through his eyes'. Wendy leaned forward and put hand on his shoulder, and when he looked back and saw her nodding, he nodded back and kept his eyes forward, not caring what everyone else would think about him. Stan sniffled and wiped his eyes with his hand. He was asked to come forward to say a few words, and, even though he did not know he would have to, he still accepted and went to the front. All eyes were on him, and, even though he was nervous, he kept calm.

"Well, many of you know me as this town's very own Mr. Mystery" he told the crowd.  
He looked back at the caskets.  
"But many of you don't really know about my nephew, or my niece-in-law." he said, unaware if they really heard him, as he was facing away from them.  
He looked back forward.  
"My nephew always had a thirst for reaching his goals, and never abandoned them, be it becoming such a successful business man, or making sure his kids were raised right."  
He sighed.  
"I have to admit, maybe I wasn't a perfect role model for him when he was younger," he admitted "I only gave him enough advice that someone who thinks with their wallet would use."  
"And maybe it worked out enough, because he did end up successful, with a wife, two wonderful kids and a great job."  
He looked back at the caskets and then looked forward again, shaking his head.  
"But, as I stand here, I realize; money isn't as important as it's made out to be. No matter how rich and successful you become, your time comes, and you can't take it with you."  
"Like I said, and like it's been said by others, including my niece-in-law; I'm not such a great role model. But, maybe, truly, in my nephew's eyes, I was, because, he did trust me enough, leaving his two kids with me."  
He indicated out to Dipper and Mabel.  
"These past few months, I've been getting to know my great-niece and great-nephew, and I've been growing closer to them with each and every passing day."  
He smiled a bit sadly.  
"Heck, at the beginning of this summer, I didn't even know their names. And now, in this desperate time for them, I want them to know I'm here for them. Their parents may be gone, but I'm not. And I will make sure that, after everything passes at the end of today, that their lives will go on and they will be happy."  
He looked over at the twins.  
"Dipper. Mabel." he said to them, looking directly at them.  
They nodded.  
"I love you both so much."  
So many people were crying then as Dipper and Mabel replied back the same to him. Stan went back to his seat in between the twins and he put his arms around them.  
A few more things were said by the pastor and a few passages of the bible were read. And finally, the caskets were lowered into the ground and the headstones placed at the ends of each hole. The service was over and the crowd dispersed, everyone apologizing once more for Dipper and Mabel's loss as they all left for the repast at the diner.  
As everyone, including Stan and Soos left, Dipper and Mabel stayed behind.  
"W-we'll catch up with you, Grunkle Stan" Dipper told him, as he and Mabel looked over at the graves, which were now being covered.  
Stan nodded in understanding.  
"Don't spend to much time here, though, kids" he told them "I don't want you kids out after dark today, okay?"

They agreed and walked back over to the graves as Stan left with Soos.

Dipper and Mabel both walked over to look at the graves, having the entire lake-side to themselves. They looked at the headstone, which featured both their parents names, as well as their parents birth-dates and the day of the crash. The twins both looked up at each other.  
"It's finally over with, isn't it?" Mabel asked.  
Dipper nodded.  
"I guess it is, Mabel" he replied.  
Not really needing to explain both Mabel's question or Dipper's answer, they both just stood there and looked.  
"I-I just wish we could see them… one last time…" Mabel said, tears forming in the corners of her eyes once more.  
Dipper took his sister's hand and was about to say something comforting, when something odd happened; a glowing blue essence began to glow around Mabel.  
"What the-" Dipper said in shock. Mabel seemed to be shocked by this, as well.  
But the essence began to grow, and, by skin contact, it also spread across to Dipper. They both tried to let go of each other's hands, thinking it would make it stop, but their hands seemed to be stuck together. As this happened, something even stranger seemed to happen. From the ground, right from the graves of their parents two separate essences began to rise. These essences began to ripple, and then, to their complete and utter shock, they slowly molded into the shapes of their parents. But, they didn't stay blue, the color changed from blue to their normal skin tones, but they still looked transparent. They were unlike ghosts, they were more like spirits, or a shadow of a memory. Dipper and Mabel were both finally able to let go of each others hands as the essence disappeared, but the image of their parents still stayed there.  
They both stepped forward and reached their hands out, but when their hands were to come in contact, wanting to see if what they were seeing was true or not, they passed right thru the images of their parents. They weren't real…  
But as they saw the smiles on their parent's faces, they knew that, whether what they were seeing was simply an illusion, or just another strange thing that happened in this town, somehow, this just made them feel better.  
And, no sooner then they had appeared, the images of their parents began to fade away. But right before they disappeared from sight, they both heard the same thing at once.  
"You two are destined for great things…" seemed to be whispered into their ears by both the voices of their parents.  
They both looked at each other and, without even having to ask, they both knew, they had both seen and heard the same thing.  
And at this, they both hugged, and knew, what they heard defied what Mabel had said; nothing was over, and they were both destined for great things. They finally walked away from the spot, ready to continue on.


	5. Epilogue

Robbie looked in disgust at all those who were entering the funeral. His step-parents had gone and, while he was told by them that he had to come, he snuck off when they weren't looking for a smoke.  
"Disgusting, isn't it?" he heard.  
He nodded, not caring who said it.  
"Those little twerps are gaining all this popularity and for what?" said the same voice.  
"A stupid death…" Robbie replied, blowing a puff of smoke out from his mouth.  
"And everyone dies, don't they?" he heard.  
Once again, he nodded.  
"It is AFTER death, though, that some of the best things can happen…" the voice said, in an almost tempting tone.  
Robbie cocked his eyebrow.  
"Huh?" he said curiously.  
At his side, he felt a presence. He looked over and nearly jumped back in shock. What was beside him looked like a reflection of him, but totally different. The skin tone of this thing was dark green, there were stitching that seemed to keep the joints together, it wore a robe instead of a hoodie, and the eyes were glowing red. This thing reached into the pocket of Robbie's hoodie and took a cigarette from the carton, sticking it in it's mouth. It snapped it's fingers and a blue flame quickly erupted at the tip of the cigarette, but then dispersed, the cigarette in… it's… mouth now lit.  
"Those brats are pathetic, they don't even deserve all this attention" it said in the same voice that Robbie had heard.  
It looked over and pointed.  
"And that little twerp doesn't deserve YOUR girl!" it said.  
Robbie looked over where the thing was pointing and his eyes narrowed in anger; Wendy was down on one knee in front of Dipper… and they were KISSING!  
Wendy hadn't even kissed HIM on the lips yet, she hadn't done that to any guy she ever dated, yet, she would kiss that little kid on the lips after only a week?!  
"Not fair, is it?" the creature next to him said.  
Robbie nodded, trembling in anger.  
"Well… I can help you" it told him "just like I have helped you before."  
It began to float above the ground by an inch.  
"I have been watching you, Robert" it said "I know of how much you've been scorned, all the unfairness that has been inflicted upon you in your life."  
"I have even helped you at some points; escaping the convenience store, learning your guitar skills, and making sure you weren't caught whenever you were up to your justified deeds."  
Robbie believed that all the graffiti and misdemeanors he did across the town were 'justified deeds'. After all; why have a huge water-tower and NOT put a giant explosion on it? And why was it that people could tear apart fire hydrants and he couldn't drive without a license or smoke even though he wasn't 18?

"I can help you a lot… I can give you ultimate power… I can help you finally have your revenge…" it tempted him, making adrenaline rush through his veins in excitement.  
Robbie finally turned and looked at this creature.  
"How…" he asked, not even thinking of whether or not he should trust this thing.  
"How can you help me?"  
This creature nodded.  
"I can help in so many ways." it said "But first…I will need a few things, and you will have to get them for me."  
Robbie nodded.  
"What do you need?" he asked.  
"First… you will need a few things, and second… you will need to make some new allies" it expanded.  
Robbie nodded.  
"Like you, there has been someone else who has been scorned by the Pines family; Gideon Gleeful." it said.  
Robbie snickered a bit. He knew that kid. He was some fake telepath who put on shows displaying the obvious to make him seem amazing, and was, at one point, competition for the con-artist uncle of Dipper and Mabel, Stan Pines.  
"Gideon possesses a book simply titled '2'." the thing said holding up two fingers.  
Quickly looking at it's hand, Robbie saw that this creature had six fingers instead of five. But with the adrenaline rushing through his veins, he didn't care.  
"You need to get Gideon to gain your trust, and then, you will need to get this book from him." it told Robbie "Secondly, you will need to find two other books, one simply titled '1' and the other simply titled '3'."  
Robbie nodded again.  
"Where are these other books?"  
The creature shrugged.  
"Unfortunately, wherever these books may be, I cannot give exact location of which is where" it said  
Robbie wanted to groan, but held it in.  
"But I do know…" the creature said "one of these two books are possessed by Dipper Pines."  
Robbie's head snapped over in the direction of the funeral. The creature floated in front of him, blocking his site.

"In due time, Robert, in due time…" it said "you will need the first two books before getting the third one."

Robbie sighed, and nodded once again.  
"The other book, whichever one of the two it may be, is hidden somewhere in town, in places few have ventured. It will be you who will have to find it."  
Robbie nodded again.  
"But there are many allies you will need to gain before you possess all three books, and you must have both '1' and '2' before you go after the final book."  
Robbie nodded in understanding.  
"When you find these books, do not read them, or my support that I have been giving you, will be lost. And when you possess all of these, light each on fire in numerical order within the cave of the tallest mountain, and I will finally be able to help you have your revenge!"  
Robbie smiled. He held out a hand, but the creature floated back.  
"Be warned though, there are many supernatural forces that will stand in your way…"  
Robbie was hesitant then, but quickly shrugged that off.

"These forces being allies with the Pines family, and while I may help you overcome some of them, I cannot help you overcome all of them. So you will have to ally yourself with supernatural forces as well."  
Robbie nodded once more.  
"When all this is over with, you will have great power bestowed upon you, and all the revenge you want, you will finally have…"  
The creature floated back forward and held it's hand out. Robbie held his hand out and they shook.  
Robbie felt a burning sensation on his hand, and smoke came from it. He yanked his hand back, and when he looked at it, he saw that his entire hand had turned the same shade of green as the creature before him!  
The creature snapped his fingers and a black glove covered Robbie's hand.  
"That is my first gift to you…" it said "you are now able to wield ghost flames-"  
The creature snapped his fingers again, and the same blue flame erupted, now in it's palm.  
"-and are able to control the minds of the weak and feeble minded for a short time, through contact to the forehead."  
Robbie's fist clenched.  
"YES!" he said, holding his fist up, now over his shock of his skin changing.  
The creature had Robbie look at him only one more time.  
"Remember this, Robert; in Gravity Falls you can trust no one… Except me!"  
Robbie nodded one final time, and the creature before him disappeared. Before this happened, though, he didn't see that the creature had put one arm behind it's back, and cross it's fingers. But Robbie didn't notice, and didn't care. He had power, and, soon, he would have his revenge!

He let out a wicked laugh, and left the spot he was at, ready to begin his quest.

**Note**

**This is not the end, according to fanfics4ever, there is a sequal, however, I do not have permission to upload it, here's a link.**

** art/Gravity-Falls-Bewarbs-Return-347887660**


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